


Escape from Beast Island

by RoninReverie



Series: Entrapdak Stories [2]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Anger Management, Beast Island, F/M, Fanart, Fluff, Holding Hands, Hunting, Loss of Limbs, Post-Season/Series 03, Slow Burn, Survival, touching reuinion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2020-08-10 22:22:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20142928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoninReverie/pseuds/RoninReverie
Summary: Scorpia manages to save both Catra and Entrapta by telling Hordak a new lie about the day the Horde castle fell. Now it is up to Hordak and his two unwelcome accomplices to go to Beast Island, find Entrapta, and bring her home. But, what does saving Entrapta mean for Catra, and what setbacks will stand in the way of Entrapta's safe return?





	1. Journey to Beast Island

**Author's Note:**

> Posted on 8/8/19

Hordak continued rummaging through the debris of where once stood his lab. It had been nearly three weeks of intensive repairs and recycling, but the castle still lay in a pile of ceaseless rubble. He sifted through the broken metal, lifting a sheet off the tile as he had finally struck a bit more of the floor, when he suddenly paused. Hordak tossed the wreckage aside, only to lean down and pick up the lone, cracked welding mask left so hastily behind by Entrapta.

His chest ached, the painful tug that closed off his throat as if he were being choked. He swallowed that feeling down again with rage and let the mask fall back to the floor alongside all of the other discarded scrap.

_Entrapta was gone._ He reminded himself. _She left and she was never coming back._

“Hordak?” Catra’s voice called.

Of all the people in the world to interrupt him again, he wondered, why did Catra seem so adamant on both aggravating and disrespecting him at the most inopportune of times?

“What?” He barked back. “Can’t you see that I’m busy?”

“Busy digging through garbage that’s been sitting around for a month? Yeah.”

Her defiance was ever strong, just as it had been since she grew that sudden backbone all those weeks ago. Normally such insolence and absolute intolerance would have been dealt with by now, but for the time being, Hordak was too tired and busy to care.

“What do you want?” His voice hissed out again, this time more weary.

“The princesses are working on something big. I don’t know what, but I know Shadow Weaver is with them and with her pulling the strings, it will only be a matter of time before those pesky princesses show up to finish what they started. We need a plan, and we need one now, not after the renovations to the Fright Zone are completed! It's been almost a month and we're practically nowhere. It's time to change to the offensive! We need a plan of attack.”

“You have never sought out my permission to plan out an attack before, why start now?”

She rolled her eyes and leaned on what used to be the doorway.

“I guess you’re right,” she said with a touch of gentle acidity. “I just thought you might like to know.”

She thought he was weak. She thought he was an incompetent leader and a failure as head of the Horde. Perhaps she was right? He was nowhere near his pique of leadership as the top-general of Horde Prime, but after so long trapped on this backwater world, what else could he expect? However, in the past few days he had considered something that Catra herself had failed to realize. One thing was certain, and it was this mess was not his fault as leader, but hers.

“This is your fault.” He spoke softly, brushing a severed hunk of cloning tubing before snapping the shard of broken glass casing in his clutches.

“Excuse me?” Catra turned back to face him, her facial expression turning sharp.

Hordak dropped the glass and glared at her.

“Everything was working perfectly until you brought that prisoner back here. Now my lab is destroyed and years of irreplaceable work has been lost to me forever. Entrapta has gone back to the princesses, and it was all because you brought Adora here and then let her break free. Your fault because through all your combative leadership and supposed talent in warfare, you alone could not contain a single prisoner. And this is not the first time such failure has marked you, now is it? I should have just followed my instincts and gotten rid of you when I first noticed your failure in leadership!”

Catra stood firm.

“Understand this...” she said with a snarl. “This destruction, it was She-ra’s fault, not mine! It’s only because of me that you were even able to escape that day. Without me, you would have been captured or killed by those rebels and and the Horde would have crumbled! Without my help..." she kicked at a hunk of scrap metal. "Even what garbage we have now would mean nothing!”

Hordak could strike her down where she stood, but as he took a step forward, his foot struck the old mask again, and the flickering memory of Entrapta’s smile that once lay beneath it made the urge dissipate, at least enough so for him to snarl and storm away through gritted teeth. _If she knew what was good for herself, she wouldn’t try to follow him._

"Get back to your assignments, Force Captain, Catra..."

The newly reinstated title was sour on his tongue, but he said his peace and brushed past her, making his way down the hall and silently seething all the way.

_How had everything he’d worked for gone so wrong so quickly?_ How had everything he knew and trusted turned south or betrayed him before he’d even had the chance to notice? Was it his weakness growing stronger, causing distractions and irrelevant thoughts to cross his mind? It must have been. There was no other explanation for the destruction seen here at his feet.

“Umm, Lord Hordak sir…”

“What!?” He snarled, his arm flailing out at the interruption.

Force Captain Scorpia had the good sense to duck, a datapad flipping around her clawed hands as the look of guilt on her face turned quickly into fear.

“Ummm… sir…” She cleared her throat, that guilt seeping through again that quickly appeared to test Hordak’s slim reserves of patience. “Well it would appear that all scrap salvaged in the West Wing can be in working order again in a few weeks, all except for the cloning tubes which suffered major—”

“What else!?” He snapped impatiently.

Scorpia clenched her eyes shut, wondering if what she was about to say should even be said.

Entrapta was her friend, she couldn’t just let her continue to suffer on Beast Island alone, could she? Even if Catra did give the orders. Even if she did have a good reason... She had been a bit tense lately, something off from the normal Catra that Scorpia knew and loved. She just needed her help and support now more than ever, but that didn’t mean she could just abandon one friend because of the other. That wasn’t right. _But perhaps there was a way to save both without either conflicting with the other?_ Hordak seemed even scarier than before without Entrapta around anyway. In any scenario, she was a genius and a wiz when it came to building useful robots and weapons, so saving her meant helping everybody in the long run. Right? So long as she completely left Catra’s involvement in her sudden disappearance out of it, that is.

Scorpia had worked long and hard on the report, now it was up to fate to steer the rest.

“Sir, we’ve received reports that a cargo shipment to Beast Island was released just before the attack from the princesses. The vessel did not return to the path and is presumed lost.”

“And?” He growled restlessly.

She gulped.

“And it would appear that Entrapta was aboard that transport, sir.”

“Entrapta?” he repeated, a bit of shock seeping into his otherwise unreadable face. “Why?”

“We aren’t entirely sure. Our security logs were all destroyed beyond repair, but I know Entrapta, and I know how much she liked working here, so I don't think she wasn’t working with the princesses, rather they invaded and incapacitated her before hiding her body in the transport and shipping her out of their way. She is a valuable Horde asset and a capable threat to them, so It would make sense they might want to remove her from the "playing field" so to say.”

“She has been on Beast Island since the attack?” Hordak murmured. “Alone?”

“That is what we believe sir. Which might account for why nobody can seem to find a trace of her anywhere?”

Hordak shouted out a snarl, another arm swinging out to grab at the data pad as Scorpia fumbled and tossed it to him. He couldn’t believe the data he was seeing in her report. A transport had indeed left the castle just before She-ra appeared and ruined everything. Judging by these dates and patterns, it would appear that Catra was wrong! Entrapta had never betrayed them, she was simply overpowered and cast away early on in the invasion. That in itself brought more rage bubbling to him than relief and he half chunked the device back into Scorpia’s arms with a low hiss.

“Send out a recovery team for her immediately and bring her back!”

The look of reserved fear returned once more.

“About that...” Scorpia’s voice stretched. “It seems all the transports were damaged in the collapse, and we’re so understaffed right now that no one is working those areas yet. If there even is a working shuttle there, then it’s still buried in rubble. Also, we have no additional manpower to staff a search and rescue to somewhere so dangerous with so little resources on hand. There's no way anyone would survive, assuming Entrapta herself is even still—”

He growled and turned on a dime to tread across the hallway's rubbled path, ignoring the last of the captain's statement.

“Uh… Sir! Wh-where are you going?”

“To Beast Island!” He snarled back. “Incompetence can not be trusted to do what needs to be done!”

She stumbled behind him, confused.

“You’re going there alone, sir? How? I mean… Great! But… alone? Are you sure?”

“Do you have a problem with that, Force Captain?”

He growled intimidatingly and she could only blink.

“No sir, not at all! Of course, if anyone can go there and make it back alive, then it’s you, sir.”

He grumbled and pointed to her.

“I cannot trust Catra to make responsible decisions, and therefore, you will be in charge until my return. See to it that the reconstruction of this castle is at the topmost priority and if anybody so much as dares to oppose you or impede progress in any way then you are to terminate them on sight and rid their weakness from our ranks.”

Scorpia swallowed, but her face grew stern with understanding.

“Y-yes sir…”

He left her standing in the broken hallway as he made his way to the platform docks. In some places, this was her family’s castle after all, so she did want the rebuilding to continue as planned. _Was that why he brought up the subject?_ She wondered. At the same time, Scorpia didn't like how he had noticed the shift in Catra's mood lately. He never struck her as the sort to understand human emotions, so if Lord Hordak could see the changes in her, they must be worse than she thought.

It was nothing a few wins wouldn't fix though, and having Entrapta here would help lighten his tension a bit as well so then Catra could return to his good graces as his second in command a whole lot easier! _Minus the demotion and the imprisonment, but all that was really unclear when they survived the Crimson Wastes?_ Regardles! Scorpia was glad her bluff worked so well, but she wondered if she had just done the right thing. As she watched Hordak disappear down the hall, she could only wait and hope that she had.

* * *

It took a bit of strain, but Hordak tossed the collapsed rubble off the easiest to obtain transport and prepared it for undocking and travel. He did not require the same upkeep as his soldiers, and therefor he could make it to Beast Island and back with little cause for alarm. If a threat should appear, he was more than apt to defend himself. Entrapta’s new armor for him saw to that much.

It took only a few hours to reassemble the necessary components for travel, and as soon as he got the targeting computers back online, he would be on his way to saving Entrapta. The trip in these conditions would presumably take a few days, but that was to be expected at the height of the Horde's immeasurable damage. Still, if there was even a chance that Entrapta could still be alive on Beast Island, he would find her.

"She has to still be alive. I know she's smart enough to stay alive, even there."

_"BREEP BER BEEP!"_

Hordak turned at the approaching sounds of robotic legs tapping against the ground and light binary chirping in his ear only to see Emily and the small, sneaky Imp on her carapace.

“You two are not going,” Hordak said absentmindedly as he shooed them away. “Beast Island is much too dangerous for the both of you. Now leave!”

They took a step forward.

He felt his frustration bubbling and swung out at them as they skipped back to dodge his arms.

“I SAID LEAVE!”

Emily backpedaled, but both shook their nerves away and stepped forth in defiance yet again.

Hordak sighed.

“I don’t have time for this. You want to go? Fine, but know this, if either of you slow my mission in any form, you will be left behind and you will be on your own.”

They nodded, a bit over-zealously despite the threat he'd just delivered, and they shoved past him and into the cramped shuttle before he could make further protest.

With another sigh, Hordak groaned to himself and stepped inside as well, ready to get the long and aggravating journey over with. For Entrapta, he would just have to find a way to endure.

* * *

> “Log Day twenty-six, let’s see, temperatures are hot, as usual, and the humidity seems to be accounting for most of the dryness in the air today. Oh! Oh! So, I made a new friend in the form of what I like to call the Plasma-Bug. I call it that because it discharges plasma when threatened by a superior force. Fascinating! Perhaps not for the rocks it completely dissolved, but fascinating for me at least. Let’s see… what else? It has been week two of the new prosthetic and so far all is well. There is the small habit of the recycled transport wire short-circuiting the—”

“Wha! Whoa! Woo! Haa!” She screamed, hand clamped against her wrist as the metal arm flailed out sporadically in every which way before calming down. She stroked it and rolled her hand, listening to the light hum of mechanic servos grinding within.

Grabbing at her makeshift recorder, she went back to her log journal.

> “—the wiring. _Phew! _I'm still getting used to the kinks. I didn't have much to work with using only that transport equipment I salvaged, but still, I managed to make a whole arm, a sustainable campsite, that grappling gun, and this recorder with it, so it wasn't all bad material! At any rate, a few wires on the fritz here and there is nothing to get into a tizzy over as I always say.”

She paused her log and frowned.

Hordak’s arm had done much the same thing what seemed like a lifetime ago rather a few mere weeks. So much had changed since then. She wondered if he even knew she was out here, much less if he was in any position to come and retrieve her. The last time she had been left for this long, none of her friends had come back for her. But Hordak was different— _at least, she thought he was._ There was something in certain people that just clicked together, that's what Scorpia had said, and what happened when Entrapta first met Emily. She thought she clicked with Hordak as well, but it has been quite a few log days since waking up on this Island and now she wondered how long she should hold out on hopes that may never come true.

It wasn’t all bad of course. The land itself was fascinating and riddled with new data just waiting to be discovered and charted. Entrapta doubted anybody else in all of Etheria had such a detailed list of the flora and fauna or the seismic patterns of Beast Island than she had, and for that she was immensely proud of herself. Testing the limitations of herself and this land gave her a reason to wake up each morning and had thus far proven to be quite the adventure unlike any she could have ever imagined.

Still, scientific discovery often came at a price and she had paid that much alright. Which again, was all new but acceptable parameters to obtaining this much research in so little time. She'd offered to give up her leg for far less in the past, but chance doesn't always allow one to pick what limbs they wish to lose in the pursuit of knowledge.

Simultaneously though, Entrapta had grown rather homesick for Hordak’s castle and their lab. All that tech she could tinker with, plus the freedom to go anywhere she wanted without threat, and of course, access to all the resource material and tiny foods she could get her hands on. She missed that, sometimes more than she knew was possible to miss.

It wasn't like being alone was anything new to her, but after getting used to such a equal-minded lab partner such as Hordak, or such good listeners like Imp and Emily, Entrapta had begun to feel true loneliness for what was probably the first time in her life. You never truly know what you're missing until you finally have it and then lose it soon after. True friends seemed to be just such a catalyst for these unfamiliar hollow emotions it seemed.

Would she see them again? Would all of her new knowledge die here on this island before she could share it with anyone? What was the running span for life here anyway? In her studies, even the animal life seemed to have a pretty short streak when it came down to weather and natural selection. How long until her days were numbered like all the rest here?

“Maybe I should find a way to store all this research safely for the next person?” She wondered, a bit morbidly, but it wasn’t like she would ever allow her research to die if she did. No way!

_“—APTA!!!!”_

She blinked back to reality at the tail end of the distant echo.

“What was that? A voice?”

_“ENTRAPTA!”_ the voice yelled again. It was growing closer, the dark tone thundering through the barren lands just as loudly as the geyser steam blowing from down the ridge.

"My name? The person shouting must have a pretty strong set of pipes on them, don't they? I wonder who else could be on this island looking for me, unless—"

_“ENTRAPTA!”_

Wait... she recognized that speaker... and she realized what purpose it had on this island now.

_“ENTRAPTA!”_

“Hordak?!”

Could she be hallucinating or was that truly Hordak’s voice? It was! He was... shouting… looking for her, and... oh, and calling attention to himself for all the predatory species nearby to trace!

"Uh oh!"

She grabbed for her grapple gun and let fire a long strand of her purple hair from the device, letting it grasp onto the nearest tree limb as she pulled herself forward to rush to his aid.

In many ways losing her hair had been harder for her than losing the arm, but it was nothing a bit of tinkering couldn’t help compensate for until her hair eventually grew back.

She followed the voice, as the gun latched onto another dead tree and at last she saw them. Three of them. Emily, Imp, and Hordak all walking to her location, and as they did, they were closer and closer to being unwittingly surrounded by a small pack of Spine Swallowers. She called them that on account of how they sucked the spines out of their pray like a tiny plate of spaghetti noodles. It was grotesque, but fascinating all the same.

“Not on my watch, you don’t!” She said, letting loose a spear into the back of the massive turbulent beast .

She grabbed for her next spear and aimed her for the other two creatures, seeing the angle of velocity clearly in her mind. She let loose one and then quickly reached back to throw the other, and with that, her friends below would be safe— for the time being.

* * *

Hordak watched the beast fall, the howling screeches of two more followed by heavy thuds and snarling breaths of death. He didn’t know what was happening, but readied himself for anything to come his way after. He did not care that he was putting his life in danger. He did not care that the robotic orb and his companion had tagged along. All he wanted was to locate Entrapta no matter the risk and no matter the cost.

Which is when he saw the purple hair swinging in from above, the short woman landing gracefully next to their group as she threw another javelin into the raging white and yellow colored beast that charged their way with one spear already sticking from its corpse. It fell over dead before she even had time to stand to her full height and Hordak could only watch as she turned his way to face him, the red glow of the island’s hot dirt illuminating her face as she wiped the small splatter of blood off her cheek.

Her hair had been singed and it was shorn so short that it barely flipped as her face came into view before him. Her face, which now appeared to be showing scratches and signs of struggle, simultaneously revealed telling stories of how her last few weeks on this Hellish island had gone. And her arm— he was mortified to see that whatever pain she had endured, the arm had been damaged completely beyond repair to the point that she was forced to craft her own prosthetic out of scrap.

He had to look away.

Entrapta did not deserve this hardship that had been thrust upon her. She had not deserved to suffer like this while he himself was pacing angrily through his castle remnants, focused on the reasons behind her betrayal. Reasons that were no fault of hers to begin with, but in his selfish anger he had allowed this pain to come to her in hesitating for so long to come to her rescue. Her injuries were his fault entirely, and he knew no way to make up for them.

“Entrapta, I—”

“Hordak!” She smiled. “You came for me!”

She smiled at him. All that he had let happen to her, all that he had allowed to happen, and she still smiled at the mere sight of him? It was more than he deserved, and the guilt he felt was overwhelming any sense of joy or relief he wished to convey.

"I knew you'd come eventually!" she continued. "And you brought friends!"

Emily and Imp came crashing in, nearly knocking Hordak down, but breaking him out of his thoughts as they each rushed up to squeeze against her sides.

“Oh wow! Miss me much?” She laughed, hugging them in return. “That’s okay! I missed you too!”

Emily's servos chirped in some amalgamation of happiness as Imp repeated her words "I missed you too" on a loop from an unmoving smile on his lips.

Entrapta laughed harder until her voice caught and tears fell from her eyes.

“I missed you a lot actually!”

Never in his wildest imagination had Hordak ever pictured a type of emotional despair on Entrapta’s face. Now he saw it clear as day and it made him feel worse than decay, worse than any injury or failure he’d ever lived through.

“I am deeply sorry it took us this long to find you, Entrapta. Nothing I can do can make up for what's been done to you.” He stepped forward. “You did not deserve for any of this to happen.”

She barreled forward and wrapped her arms around him, her cries returning to an endearing smile as if at the flip of a switch.

“I’m just glad you’re here now." She looked up at him with an excited gleam. "I’ve accomplished so much valuable research while I've been trapped here! I can’t wait to share all of it with you.”

She pressed deeper into him until he returned her embrace with the same tenacity, and Hordak allowed his hand to come up and caress her shorn hair and the ridge of her face, in a small attempt of a comforting gesture. Despite this, the rage in his voice to follow could not be denied.

“Those princesses will pay dearly for what they’ve done to you, I swear it!”

She pulled back and shot a puzzled look up at him.

“The princesses? Wait, what did they do?”

Hordak felt that familiar pang of betrayal wash over him like a cold shock.

“I was told that they incapacitated you and left you on this transport to be shipped to your death.”

She pulled away slowly and rubbed at her robotic arm as if the wound was still fresh pain in her mind.

“I see..." she pondered. "The last thing I remember, I was telling Catra that we couldn’t make your portal work without causing irrevocable damage to the whole planet. I trust you saw it too?”

“I did,” he said, the sour memories of that false and perfect world coming into mind.

“I said I needed to tell you to postpone the portal. I said you would understand…”

She looked up at him and he could only watch her in silence. He truly would have understood. In a perfect world, they would still be together in his lab working on it to absolute perfection right up to this very day if time allowed it. They could have worked on it together for an eternity and he would have understood. In fact, he would have enjoyed it.

She turned and revealed cauterized electrical burns cascading web-like along her back and Hordak felt his eyes go wide at the sight of even more unseen suffering she had to endure alone.

It was Catra who knocked her out and sent her here. Entrapta knew that. Even statistically speaking, they were friends and yet, she quite literally stabbed her in the back— or well— shocked her in the back? The only thing she couldn't figure out was why. But if she told that to Hordak... well then Hordak would undoubtedly hurt Catra to get even on her behalf and there would be nothing she could do to save her this time. 

Catra was young and impulsive and not in her right mind. Entrapta couldn't condemn her until she knew for sure why Catra did what she did, and ask her for herself. _Maybe they could get passed this whole thing and still be friends?_

It wasn't like it was Catra's fault she got her hair eaten off by that multi-razor-mouthed worm when she stumbled into its labyrinth of cave-like tunnels. She was calling it Barb on account of the haircut, and has yet to see it since moving her expeditions back above ground. Maybe it was just hungry for magical princess hair?

It also wasn't Catra's fault that she'd lost her arm in the attack of the rock monsters over in the nearby mountains either. Those guys she didn't have individual names for yet, but for now she was simply referring to their species as the mysterious and easily provoked "Petro-bipeds" and she now knew to stay far away from them and their avalanche causing rampages up in the highlands.

Sure, Catra may have put her in the position for all those dangers to happen, but it was just chance that all of it actually had. _What was an arm or a leg in the name of science, right?_ Forgive and forget! At least, that was something she hoped to try when they returned. 

“I’m not sure who put me on that transport, but I know that I was zapped unconscious. The next thing I know, I was here.” She shook her head. “I still haven’t been able to figure out why anyone would do that, least of all someone I used to call my friend.”

"But Catra told me—" He broke of with a snarl. "What need would she have to lie? Was she so ashamed to have failed in saving you? Did she know you were here suffering alone all this time?"

Hordak’s anger was enough to make his shoulders rise with the intake of air he was about to let loose, but Entrapta’s hands wrapped around his and he let it dissipate into a smaller, less audible growl.

"Hey, it's alright now. Whatever happened, happened. We'll figure it all out when we get back, okay?"

He softened and nodded.

“It would appear I too have been surrounded by insubordinate and distrustful people once called my allies. Don’t worry. We will most certainly rectify everything once we return and I will learn the truth about your misfortunes. Whoever is responsible will pay dearly for the suffering they've caused you. I—” he paused, his anger melting away again as he met her eyes and softened his tone. “I understand if you wish to return to Dryl after all of this. Given the position you were put in and the stress you've been enduring, it is only natural that you would wish to return to your home.”

“Are you kidding?!” She snorted out a few large and hearty laughs. “I’ve been dreaming of getting back to the lab for weeks! There’s still so much work to get done, not to mention the portal, which is—?” she trailed off in question.

“It was completely destroyed alongside the lab itself and the rest of the castle.”

“Oh…” Her frown lasted only a fraction of a second before the smile returned. “Oh! Well we’ll just need to rebuild! I can replace the stuff from my castle pretty easily, and as for the rest, well, we can just work hard and make it all look better than it was before, right!?”

Hordak smiled.

“That sounds acceptable.”

“I’ll warn you, I may be a bit slower than I used to be thanks to my new defects, but I’m just as hard a worker!” She sounded serious, but the smile on her face revealed the true teasing tone of her statement.

Hordak took the robotic hand in his and ran a thumb along the top.

“Someone very wise once taught me to see past something so trivial as defects." He smiled at her. "Your imperfections are beautiful... at least to me.”

They shared a soft gaze, Imp and Emily blushing awkwardly from a few feet away.

Hordak realized what he'd said and blinked rapidly, clearing his throat quickly as he motioned an arm to the landscape behind them.

“Well, no sense in apprising our reunion here. Let us gather any belongings you wish to keep, and get you home.” He paused and made another sudden face of realization and fluster. “I mean to the lab. What’s left of it anyway?”

She hummed and shot him a soft smile.

“Mmm… nope. I think _"home"_ is the best definition you could use to describe it. I've been homesick lately, and I can’t wait to be back where I belong. Back home with you guys in the lab.” She laughed once and shrugged. “Or what’s left of it?”

With a blush, he squeezed the robotic hand she wore, unaware if she felt the gesture at all, and they took off into the forest to find her campsite and gather her research.

“I feel the same.”

* * *

"You did what!?"

"I- I just thought things might be better for us if Entrapta came back is all." Scorpia fumbled a bit as Catra paced towards her, blocking off all escape until Scorpia felt her back hit the wall. "I said the princesses got rid of her, and he completely bought it! He's gone to Beast Island to get Entrapta— if she's still alive— and then she can help the Horde and everything can go back to the way it was before."

"Are you an idiot?" Catra snarled. "If Hordak finds Entrapta, then she's going to tell him what I did. Everyone knows how he treats her like some little pet. When he finds out what I did to her, I am dead. Do you understand that? Dead!"

"I didn't— I mean— She was our friend, I just thought—"

"You didn't think! That's the problem. You never think!" She growled and ripped her claws through the air in frustration, her hair standing on end.

Her words hurt, but she was right. Entrapta would probably tell Hordak the truth, even if she didn't hold a grudge against Catra... but Entrapta didn't seem the vengeful type?

"She might not tell Hordak the truth?"

"Oh come on, it's Entrapta! Even if she wasn't a complete blabber mouth, she would be furious at what I did to her. She'd never lie for me after what happened. Who are we kidding? If she's still alive, then I'm as good as dead."

Scorpia looked to the floor and let out a breath.

"Well then... wh-what if they didn't come back?"

"What?"

"Okay, okay, I know how it sounds, but just hear me out..." Scorpia started. "Hordak went to Beast Island so quickly, I doubt anyone else even knows he left. Entrapta's re-purposed sentry droid and that creepy little imp thing that spies on us for Hordak went with him too. Basically, anyone or anything that might pose a danger to you has literally shipped off to the most dangerous island on the entire planet. Just think... People who go there never ever return, it's kind of the trademark slogan of Beast Island!"

Catra relaxed her stance as a wicked smile spread across her face.

"And since no one ever sees Hordak anyway, we can play like he's still here and run the Horde for ourselves. No more pointless missions or wasting resources on rebuilding this dump. We could utilize the full power of the Horde to actually fight back against Adora and her little rebellion. I like it!"

"I thought you might," Scorpia said nervously.

Catra ignored the obvious lie, but at least Scorpia's latest blunder had worked out in her favor. If she were running the Horde then they would be ready for anything Shadow Weaver, Adora, and all the others could throw at them. Now only one question remained...

"So, how are we going to trap those fools on Beast Island forever?"


	2. The Way Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted on: 8/10/19

"So... how are your injuries?"

Entrapta blinked but stared at her new robotic arm as it caressed a small bit of the hair near her chin.

"Honestly, not that bad. Having a robotic hand is actually quite stimulating. I have three times the strength I did before, and what's better is now I don't have to worry myself with the limitations of human anatomy due to having all those troublesome nerves and other organic matter getting in my way. Sure, the glitchy software needs a bit of tweaking, and I probably wouldn't want to get caught out in the water until I can find a more durable and non-corrosive metal. _Ooh!_ Or maybe something with more carbon fiber? I don't know? I suppose I'll need to run a few tests factoring in the weight in addition to the durability certain materials provide. _Hmmm..."_

Her eyes glittered with thought as the smile spread on her face and she trailed off from her point entirely.

Hordak believed that Entrapta may be the only person on this planet who could have their arm tragically removed and yet was still elated at the loss of it because it created the opportunity to invent a newer, better version of one.

He smiled a bit at that, but the continuous guilt of leaving her here only forced him to lose it shortly after.

"And your hair?" He asked.

She rubbed at it a bit sadly, twirling the loose strands between her thumb and index finger before letting out a light, airy chuckle.

"I'm not that worried. My hair is magic and it grows really really quickly. Before I could walk on my legs, I was already roaming around in my nursery using my hair because it was so long. Oh, people told me I was a handful back then!" Her smile softened with sweet memories. "Anyway, it is also super durable!" 

"Durable?"

Her smile only grew.

"Yeah, so get this... I was only able to get three haircuts as a kid before my hair got too strong for the scissors. See, every time they would cut it, it just grew back stronger and stronger until they just couldn't cut it any longer. I broke every pair of scissors in Dryl before finally they just gave up and accepted it." She laughed once. "That worm must have had teeth that measured pressure over 100 PSI if it managed to sever it like it did. It put up quite a struggle too, but it must have been attracted to that magic so badly that it just couldn't resist? In my research, I found that pattern to be quite the common one in the predatory species here. Most of them absolutely love magic and will do anything to get it!"

"That is somewhat peculiar... but interesting?"

She nodded and then trailed off in another happy thought.

"Oh, but I can't wait to see how much dexterity I'll have in a couple years when I get my hair back to its full length again! It's going to be so much stronger and that's always helpful for building and lifting— basically everything!"

"I suppose that is an optimistic outlook to have about it?"

Hordak was momentarily shocked to learn that it took such a great amount of pressure just to slice through her hair. It had always given off a texture of soft silk whenever he'd touched it, so the fact that it took the same amount of pressure _(if not more)_ to cut than it did to crush a _skiff,_ meant that her hair had been more durable than he could have ever imagined!

He cleared his throat.

"So is this the last of your..." he paused, attempting to find the right word. "Research... that you wish to bring back with you?"

"That's it! It's not much, just a few samples I was able to scrounge up during my time here."

Hordak looked to the boxed vehicle and saw Imp and Emily crammed inside, surrounded by the many various types of rock and bone material, alongside any metals or ores that she'd managed to find on this island and carry back to her camp.

Leave it to Entrapta to take a worthless, hazardous wasteland and find objects of redeemable data within. 

"Will it all fit in the transport okay?" She asked. "If not, we can leave some of it behind. I mostly wanted to test the effects magic seems to have or in some cases block when it comes into contact with the materials of this island. It's all really fascinating stuff. _Hmmm..._ maybe we can lose the—"

"Leave it!" He ordered swiftly, a bit loudly too. He caught his voice and lowered his tone. "If it is important to you, then we shall find the room."

Entrapta closed her mouth contently, but she did not smile.

_Had he said something wrong? _Hordak wondered. _He thought keeping all of her hard gotten research would make her happier?_

"You know... you don't have to keep treating me differently because of my changes."

His reaction time faltered from the sudden shock.

"I have not... treated... you differently?"

"You keep asking about how I am, you wouldn't let me help carry more than an armload of my own research supplies to the shuttle, and you have been super agreeable to everything I've said since you got here!" She shot him a look and began counting off points with her fingers before letting her arms flail out in frustration. "Look, you don't have to feel bad about what happened to me because I don't feel bad about it either. It wasn't your fault, it was just—"

** _FWHAM!_ **

He slammed his fist into the side of the transport, rocking it as Emily and Imp struggled for balance on the inside.

"But it was my fault!" Hordak shouted. "You were sent to suffer here all on your own and I failed to come and save you until it was too late to prevent such permanent damage to your being!"

"Hey... Hey..." she calmed softy, her hands coming up as far as they could on the tips of her toes to reach his shoulders. "It's okay, I—"

"How can you possibly suffer so badly and still believe you are okay? Did you not hurt? Did you not bleed?! Don't you want retribution for your agony? What kind of a fool cannot be affected by this much negativity in their own life!?"

She took a step back and shrugged.

"Well yeah... It did hurt. Losing my arm, waking up here alone... it did hurt. There were times here that I felt pain and fear, frustration and hopelessness. Anybody would if they were suddenly dropped in a place like this, but why should I stop doing the things I love just because I was suffering? In my mind, if all I did was just sit around and suffer then I never would have found anything good in this place. I never would have learned about the effects magic has on the island, nor would I have figured out the ecosystem and the way it connects all the living things here together. I wouldn't have built a campsite, salvaged food, or anything else I needed to do to survive..."

Hordak was silent.

"Most importantly, I never ever would have discovered my breaking point if it hadn't gotten pushed to my limits and then gotten it shattered! Do you know what happened after I broke it? I was able to go so much farther than I ever thought I could before! Suffer? No, I'm grateful I got the chance to grow and learn from this. I'm thinking in ways I never imagined and now there's limitless possibilities left for me to keep on discovering!" She turned back to him and smiled. "But none of that would ever have happened if I'd given up when things got a little tough. You can understand a bit about that yourself, can't you?"

His rage melted into understanding, and that into some sort of pride. He didn't feel pride often, but when he did, it never ceased to make him smile.

"I understand." Hordak turned his head to the side and sighed. "Perhaps I am the fool, discounting your strength just because I can see now that it outweighs my own. You are so much more than I ever realized... and I am sorry for discounting your strengths, both psychological and otherwise."

"That's okay," she replied cheerfully. "For what it's worth, I really am grateful for my time here, but I want to go back home even more than that. I'm glad you came back for me. Not a lot of people do that, so even if it took you a while, I'm just glad you made it back when you did."

Hordak placed a hand to her face and stroked it gently with his thumb.

So much strength in such a small human package. He never knew the people of Etheria could be this resilient, and he had been at war with them for years! Persistent, he once thought, but Entrapta was something far different. If everybody on Etheria were more like her, then perhaps he never would have sought to conquer this planet in the first place?

His eyes widened and he swiftly released her.

"_Ahem!_ Well, in that case, let us return to the Fright Zone at once."

She smiled and rushed into the cart. 

"Emily! You guys move over, I'm coming in! Ah! I can't wait to get some tiny cupcakes when we get back. I have been craving them ever since I got here! Oh! I can almost taste them now!"

Hordak made a note of that. If she didn't allow him to dote on her in her new condition, then he could at least make sure she got all the miniaturized sugar pastries that her heart desired. It wasn't a lot, but at least it was something that he could still do for her. It was something he could at least do for himself.

* * *

"So do you actually think this plan is going to work?"

"Well, I'm no mechanical engineer, but I know that these paths are laced with these electric system orbs that keep the carts hauling cargo to places where there aren't any Horde stations set up to return them to the hub. Take Beast Island!" Scorpia pointed out. "It's not like we have a little drop off station there or anything. We've never even sent a person there who wasn't a prisoner. Half of the time, our carts don't even come back! We always send the older models out before putting in requests to get newer ones for other shipping things to the places we do have stations set up." 

"Alright, alright, focus here." Catra snapped her fingers and pointed towards the broken screen. "So if we overload these points in the pathway, then you think the signals will break and prevent any transports from finding its way back? That's what you're saying?"

"Hypothetically speaking anyway? Since most of the power was out in this area until Hordak fixed it, it could have short-circuited the safety features to prevent an over-surge. Plus with all the destruction, there's no way anybody would ever question the path being broken given all the damage here. For all they knew, the path broke when the surge went off all those weeks ago and its been shorted out ever since!"

"I guess people could believe that?" she pondered. "And you're sure it'll work?" 

"Sure I'm sure! This is simple electrical engineering!"

Catra shot her a look and Scorpia fumbled.

"Well, you know, I mean, I am no mechanical engineer, but I know a thing or two about electricity. It was one of our sub-class electives before Captain Orientation."

"All we have to do is flip this little switch and all those wires you hooked up to the panel will break the path from here to Beast Island? Hordak will be trapped there with no way to come back and then everything here is ours for the taking."

"That's the plan!"

Scorpia smiled despite the pit feeling she had on the inside. Betraying Hordak? Leaving Entrapta behind? The Imp and the little robot thing she could live with, but the other two? No. No, this was all going to be okay. Catra would get back to her old self as soon as she wasn't so stressed out. Entrapta and Hordak made her stressed. This job to fix everything for them and make the portal work... that was what was causing her so much unnecessary worry. Adora and the Rebellion were enough to put on anyone's plate, she didn't need more to be so difficult in her already difficult life.

"Would you care to do the honors?" She motioned.

Catra stared at the lever with a wicked grin, but just as her hand was inches from the switch, she pulled back.

"No... I want you to do it."

"M-me?" Scorpia stuttered. "Why?"

"This was your idea, Scorpia. You earned this!" Catra smiled. "I insist! This is a big moment for the Horde. You are basically putting an end to a worthless cycle of loss and incompetent leadership. Pull the switch and then everything is going to change for the better. I want you to go down in history right next to me as the first person who brought on our new world order! Now go ahead and pull it!"

Scorpia felt her pincer tremble as she eased it towards the metal rod.

_For Catra, _she told herself. _For Catra and the Horde... Just do it! Do it!_

She shut her eyes tightly and held her breath, plunging her arm forward as she felt the bar of the metal switch snap off in the other direction. She blinked and studied the lever in her hands, both her and Catra's faces equal parts in shock before they backed away and watched the massive waves of electricity course through all of the wires. Every terminal burst upon contact, and they ducked to avoid the glass. The pipeline was quickly sending surges through the water as each orb-like checkpoint on the pathway burst apart into nothing and went dark.

It didn't matter how far the current went, without these markers, the transport would never be able to get back to the Fright Zone and the only thing standing between them and the island was miles upon miles of treacherous uninhabitable seas.

Catra laughed and patted Scorpia on the back a few times, a new joy in her voice as she couldn't contain her excitement.

"I wondered if you could actually go through with it! Ha ha! That was a test!"

"A test?"

She wiped a tear from her eye and laughed again.

"Yeah!" Catra nudged her with her elbow. "I wanted to see if you'd stand with me through anything and you just stranded Hordak on an island to die! I'd say that's about as loyal as you could get, don't you?"

"Ha... Ha ha..." she chuckled nervously. "Y-yeah... I guess so? Was there ever any doubt?"

"Oh yeah! But... you know... thanks for being on my side." She stopped chuckling and stared off into the ocean pathway, now black as shadow thanks to the loss of light. "It's nice to have someone to stand with for once."

Scorpia blinked.

"Well, you know I'm always here."

Catra smiled at her, and then abruptly jumped back to her feet.

"Let's get out of here and start dishing out the new orders. We're already so far behind schedule, there's not a second to waste!"

"I'm right behind you," Scorpia said, standing to follow her out the door. She paused and looked over her shoulder at the blackened path, then down to the switch that lay severed on the ground before starring up at her own claw with a frown.

_There's no going back now. _The only way left to go was forward. With Catra, she'd follow her to the ends of Etheria. Maybe then Catra would finally be happy. Maybe then she would realize that there was nothing more to do for the Horde. She could relax, and for once, finally, she could be herself in a new world without any distractions or frustrations to hold her back.

"Scorpia!"

"Oh! Coming! Coming! Wait up!" She breathed in effort as she rushed out the door. "Gosh! Why are you so fast?"


	3. Perfect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted on: 8/15/19

"This is going to be great! I can't wait to get back to the Fright Zone and get my hands on some actual tools! Of course we'll have to rebuild all the equipment, but it'll be a lot more material to work with than the stuff I nabbed out of the old transports I found back on the island."

Emily whirred and Entrapta nodded.

"Yeah there was more than one, but a lot of them were already damaged or broken down to barely anything of substantial use. I would have assumed they had been stripped for parts, but I was the only sentient being on the island who appeared to know anything about how such technology would be useful."

"That could be due to either past prisoners shipped to Beast Island throughout the years, or perhaps because the beasts native to the isle hunger not only for magic, but also technology?"

"Maybe?" she likewise pondered. "In any case, I hope we can figure out some kind of connection when we get back. So, how long will it take us to get back in our current condition?"

They were cramped together in the small space, none comfortable in the slightest as the small container swayed with the rocking motion of water and electronic railing. It was constricting, but just brushing shoulders with Entrapta was enough to put Hordak's mind at ease. Because of this, he was able to answer her question with a bit of mild amusement showing on his lips.

"The journey here took approximately three days, though it is safe to assume that this number has risen given our addition in weight." 

"Oh wow!" she exclaimed. "That's quite a road trip! Wait. So, what did you all do for pit stops?"

"There are no pit stops on the path to Beast Island..."

There was a certain level of aggravation in his statement now, which caused Entrapta to shoot a look at Imp and Emily. Imp merely shrugged, but Emily, lacking the proper room to move only flashed her face plate in her defense.

"I see..." Entrapta hummed. "And what did you all do crammed inside this tiny little box for three whole days?"

**Three Days Ago:**

**Present Day:**

"Nothing of note," Hordak replied simply.

"Hmmm... well I'm still having a hard time imagining how the trip here might have gone, but I'm happy that you three managed to stick it out together just for my benefit."

He smirked at her.

"It's true. The travel here was... arduous... and the next few days will not be ideal transport, especially for someone like yourself, but I hope—"

Entrapta stopped him. 

"It'll be okay, I'm sure. Oh, I know! We can play road games to pass the time! Would you rather do "I-Spy" or the "Alphabet Game"? We have time for both, don't worry. Oh, I've always wanted to try one of these with people!"

"Umm? I dont—"

"Oh, it's easy!" She clapped. "There's nothing but ocean around us now, but we could still make the game work with the materials inside with us. Umm, let's see... Emily! Why dont you show him how it's done? Find something beginning with the letter "A".

_BREE! BER! WHOOP!_

"Your actuator! Great job, Emily! Okay, Imp, now you!"

The small Imp tensed at the finger pointed in his direction, but took a brief look around the transport and gestured to the pile of research bones in the corner before repeating Hordak's word "Beast" "Beast" until Entrapta smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

"Very good! Alright Hordak, you try to find something that begins with a "C"." 

"..." 

"Go on!" she motioned insistently.

Hordak had absolutely no idea what any of that meant and was not entirely sure of how to operate this odd game to waste through time. The rules seemed simple enough, sure, but the mere concept of it left him baffled. In any case, he let out a very despondent sigh and allowed his eyes to wander. Regrettably though, he didn't have the chance to play along for very long.

_ **ERGHCK! KA-THUNK!** _

The Transport shook, sending Entrapta flying forward and into his chest. He caught her with one arm and held firm with the other, his claws grappling the ceiling to maintain his balance as everything jutted sharply to the front. Imp fluttered over to his shoulder with a confused shriek while Emily was holding ground, her body acting as enough size to block the pile of Entrapta's things from collapsing on all of them. The bot did slip a bit, but was able to keep its position at the end of the cart with her robotic pincers before everything leveled out and went still.

"A crash?" Hordak wondered.

"Uh, we can pause the game if we need to?"

He shot Entrapta a look. 

"No, there must have been something blocking the path? Something we must have hit?" 

She hobbled over her many things strewn along the ground and grunted, pulling at the doorway with all her might before finally giving up and pointing towards the unmoving entry.

"The door appears to be jammed, even with my enhanced strength in this new mechanical arm. Do you want to give it a go?"

Hordak shook his head and made a calculating glare to the top of the transport before bending a small hole into the sheet of metal acting as the ceiling. It was thinner up top to help with balance and velocity, so it would be the quickest point of escape in matters such as this. With a point, Imp crawled up his outstretched arm and looked through the hole just as Hordak ordered him through.

"Go see what hit us."

Imp saluted an affirmative and shot outside without question.

"Does this sort of thing happen a lot?" Entrapta asked.

"Not to my knowledge?" Hordak replied. "Transports either come back with little complication or they do not come back at all."

"Because they crashed in the sea?" she accused pertinently.

"Because they never left the island to begin with," he replied, keeping his calm. He diverted his attention from the hole to her and continued by pointing to the floor. "There are sensors beneath the transports to detect the pressure of such divergence. No vessel that was lost ever made it back to the platform, much like yours. Many of those were purposely abandoned on the island when releasing prisoners, but others were sent with escorts to avoid wasting valuable materials. Those not intended to be lost purposely have always alluded to a greater mystery involving their disappearances."

"I see..."

Imp soared back through the opening with a much louder screech before landing at Hordak's shoulder.

"What?!" He growled in reply. 

"What? What did he say?"

"The power system that guides the cart has been deactivated. The reserve systems also appear to have failed. Without the orbs, the cart has no traction, it—"

He looked up suddenly with a sense of fear in his eyes as Entrapta asked, "Well what does that mean?"

Without hesitation, water poured in through the hole above as Hordak attempted to shield them all from the sudden and violent intake of water.

"It means we're sinking! Quickly, go out through the top! Go! Swim back to the island!"

"What? But wait! Hordak!" Entrapta gasped, but there was no time to argue.

"Hold your breath." He warned, picking her up and pushing her through the water and out the small gap to the surface before she could protest. He waited, seeing the distant colors of her swimming motions grow smaller as she surfaced above sea level to safety.

Imp screeched anxiously as Hordak grabbed him off his shoulder and held him protectively in his arms. He wiped the water out of Imp's eyes and moved his body to block out as much incoming water as he could. 

"Make sure she makes it back safely," he ordered, his eyes softening slightly at the sight of the Imp's concerned golden stare. Without another word, he grabbed and shoved upward, sending the little Imp out after Entrapta. This time, Hordak was unable to see if he swam away or not, but he knew it would take much more than a few feet of water to hinder his small companion.

He let out a breath of relief despite being up to his thighs in water, his entire being drenched, and the weight of his robotic limbs already appeared to be making it harder to move than average. Still, he searched around the sinking transport for anything else he could do to be helpful in this one instance, that, being all he could think to do that posed as any help to those above. 

_BER! BREEP! BER! BOO?_

Hordak stared at Emily and a sudden realization struck him. There was no possible way the bot could fit through the gap. He couldn't either, it was far too small for either of them to use as an escape. The sentry droid began to sizzle, water slowly seeping through the metal of its leg joints and Hordak wondered how waterproof he'd made these sentries? If he was electrocuted it could prove more difficult for him to escape. Likewise, the shock could injure Entrapta and Imp above, still in the water at close enough range to be caught in the electricity.

"Override code, 112632. Acknowledge."

Emily beeped.

"Good." He pointed to the side wall and the jammed door. 

"It will take more to drown me than the others. Use your lasers and blast off the side panel, here. Then shut down immediately and backup your internal memory drive. It should take time for the water to reach your core, and with that, you will not short circuit and perhaps can be reactivated given time."

The opening the droid would carve wouldn't hurt those above, and the flood of pressure to surge inside would simultaneously deactivate Emily while also slamming him into the wall. It was alright though, his armor could prove enough to keep him upright and reduce injury. So long as he remained semi-conscious, he had no need to breathe and therefore had no threat of drowning. Once he recovered from the initial shock and adjusted to the water pressure, he could then reconvene with the others back on the island.

BER! BREE! BOO! BER?

He had been having trouble understanding what this sentry translated ever since Entrapta had reprogrammed it, but in a sense, he still knew what the bot was trying to say.

"Yes, Entrapta will be safest this way."

The bot nodded and Hordak was surprised at the amount of sentience Entrapta had programmed within it. It was almost difficult to remember that this robot had no cognitive thought or emotion. Still, if this was the last of the droid's activation, he would do what he thought Entrapta would have wanted.

"Thank you for your service, Emily." He said with a final touch to her outer shell. "Fire when ready."

She did, and he braced himself for the immediate explosion to follow.

***PEW!* *KA-BOOM!***

The blast was muffled by the rush of surging water. Hordak felt the pain of pressure pinning him to the back wall as the dark, wet chasm closed in around him, bubbles his only reveal as to which way the surface rest. The bot's— Emily's— purple light died quickly, preventing the electrical shock as Hordak predicted, giving him enough time to catch his bearings and swim towards the surface. To his surprise, the metal machine seemed to hold just enough air within the dome to float, and with a sharp kick, he sent Emily out of the transport and into the open water. Grabbing what few articles of Entrapta's supplies he could as he placed the salvage under his arm and sent Emily upward with a final kick. With that, he finally began to feel too much density squeezing down on his exoskeleton and decided it was time to go or risk more dire consequences. Surely Entrapta would be worried above, so he had to get back to her quickly, no matter what.

* * *

"Ah! Oh, no, no, this is really bad..."

Imp and Entrapta were struggling to stay afloat, his structure not made for water and her arm attempting to drag her down with its massive weight. 

"Why aren't they coming up? Can Hordak even swim?"

Imp made an unsure sound, still bobbing in and out of the water himself with apparent struggle.

"Oh, hold on little guy." She reached up, hissing once as the linking wire to her nervous system detached and she felt the weight of her arm immediately sink away. "There! That's better! Come on up."

Imp splashed over and grabbed onto her shoulder where the arm once waited, his small breaths heavy and frightened but slowly calming with relief just as Entrapta's worries seemed to be quickly piling on.

"What if his armor is too heavy? And Emily? What if she short-circuits? He could have been zapped! We should go back for them. Oh, but how far down are they now? Let's see, vary the weight... factor in the size of the hole and the intake of water... Umm..."

Imp was panting to catch his breath, his tiny heartbeats or lungs, she couldn't tell which, pitter-pattering against her back. Entrapta suddenly realized the importance of getting them back to land, if not for her sake, then at least for Imp's. She could still see the island off in the distance, it was far, but close enough to swim to. It was also possible that there could be underwater enemies lurking around, perhaps warded off or attracted to the sudden sinking transport. No factor could be left out, and though she didn't know which was true, she decided that she really didn't think it was wise to bob around and wait to find out.

Suppressing her final thoughts, Entrapta grunted and began swimming back towards the shore, letting the bubbles surrounding them continue to sink with her precious friends still sinking farther and further away below them.

They were back against the coarse, rocky beach in a matter of minutes, Entrapta coughing and gasping for breath as they lay there trying to recover. It was difficult to swim all that way with Imp, one less arm, and no hair, but she'd done it, mentally reminding herself to practice strengthening her skills in swimming once they got back to the Fright Zone. Or rather "if" they did, she thought tiredly to herself.

It had been too long! She worried internally. Even if he was an alien, she doubted any creature with a semi-organic form would be able to withstand the pressure of the depths at that sea level. Even Emily had to have been crushed like a tin can by now. There was no way anything could theoretically survive at such depths without being part fish, and even then, the genus would have to be incredibly adapted and resilient to the—

A drop of hot water slid down her already wet face and Entrapta realized quickly that it was not merely water, but a tear.

Imp somehow seemed to notice, either reading her facial expressions or feeling the hopelessness of Hordak and Emily's situation as well. He whimpered and hugged her side until her arm picked him up and they wandered to the shore's edge of the beach. They fell down, hitting the ground with a slump and starring off into the endless body of water, already calmed as if nothing had ever been there to disturb its rocking waves.

"This is my fault." Entrapta said, another tear escaping. "If I hadn't— then Emily would be— then Hordak wouldn't—" Her fingers dug into the gravelly sand and she let her forehead hit her knees. "I never even got to tell him that I—"

** _SPLASH!_ **

Their heads popped up at the sudden sound of splashing water only to see a round orb of metal bobbing a few feet away.

"Emily?"

They stood, Imp flying over to knock on the hollow shell before screeching back an affirmative.

Entrapta was about to reach out for her, but remembered both her hair and grappling gun were gone. Instead she searched quickly and managed to grab for a few vines, muttering as she scrounged the makeshift rope together.

"Please don't be snakes, please don't be snakes..."

Eventually she had enough to throw out and Imp tied the loop around Emily's leg, tugging twice so Entrapta knew when to pull her in.

She ran around one of the nearby trees and then back towards the beach until the sound of Emily's metal successfully scraped the ground.

"Oh thank you air cavity! Thank you sealed mechanics! Thank you— pry! I need something to pry her open!"

Imp flew over and handed her a sturdy branch. She took it hastily, stabbing the makeshift crowbar in the crack of Emily's control panel and using her whole weight and even a little bit of Imp's to push it apart, falling over with a woof before it successfully popped open. A stream of water and what appeared to be a small fish seeped out alongside smoke and a few sparking wires, but by the time she was back on her feet, Entrapta's smile was already more determined than the evidence could supply.

"Well that isn't ideal, but it's nothing a bit of airing out won't help." She stroked the side of Emily's carapace. "I'll have you up and running again soon, Emily." She frowned after a moment and turned to lean on her side, sliding down and back onto the ground as she kicked at her crowbar branch and allowed her moment of joy to pass. "Which is more than can be said for Hordak."

Imp whimpered again and she reached out to hold his tiny hand in hers.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of you." She smiled softly at him. "We can just take care of each other! This island isn't so bad once you get used to it. Uh... this will be... this will be nice!"

Even she couldn't convince herself of that, they were just too upset about Hordak.

Together, they scooted back over to the edge of the water and stared out, waiting and hoping that perhaps he might magically pop out and surprise them like Emily had. To their dismay, he never did.

"I know you guys did a lot of bad things, but I know why. I know that doesn't make it okay, but if I could've helped you, then I thought maybe that would be enough. You didn't have to keep trying so hard. You didn't have to do those bad things." She kicked the water. "I don't know. It isn't logical, I know that. But, Hordak is my friend... was... he was my friend and he saved me... sacrificed himself for me. We... we were lab partners... I just wish—"

A hand shot out of the water and grabbed her around the ankle.

"GAH!" Entrapta screamed, kicking her foot right into the face of the thing that grabbed her, the thing which made a very familiar sounding "Oof!" before a long groan splashed against the surface of the water.

After jumping back, Entrapta studied the lump before coming to a quick realization.

"Oh my gears, it's Hordak!" She jumped and clapped, Imp following her excitement. "Look, he's still alive! He's still— Oh, and I kicked him in the head! Oh... Quickly, help me get him out of the water."

They dragged him ashore and Entrapta flipped him over, letting all of his snagged relics topple onto the ground.

"Why— that's my grappling gun, and my bone research!"

Coughing up water, Hordak rolled his head from side to side and held up the mechanical arm to her.

"You... dropped this..."

"And my arm! Oh, I was right, this thing did not hold up to water damage, but— wait this more important right now— Hordak, why do you have all of this!?"

He took in another breath, if only to spit up the remaining water and calm his dizzy mind.

"I couldn't let all of your research and effort be lost... not again."

She stroked the long blue hairs off of his face and held his cheek in her hand.

"That's the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me!" She knelt down and delivered a sweet kiss to the part of his face that she'd kicked. "Thank you."

"You... are welcome." He smiled and sighed, the exhaustion draining more into comfort now as she continued to move the wet strands of hair off of his face.

"And I'm sorry for kicking you!" Entrapta added suddenly. "You saved my research, you saved Emily, you saved me! It's not the best way to repay someone, is it?"

"You do not need to repay me."

"But I—"

He sat up and rubbed at his sore face.

"I am not even sure the bot can be salvaged."

"Oh! We can dissemble her and dry her parts out easily. This island gets incredibly hot. She'll be dried out in no time! Don't worry about Emily. I'm more concerned about you. How on Etheria did you survive underwater for so long? Surely the pressure would have—"

"I do not breathe as you do," he interrupted. "Likewise, thanks to the efforts of "Emily", I was able to break free of the transport before the pressure grew too much for my body to handle."

"Fascinating!" She smiled, her eyes sparkling with visible intrigue. "Oh, but I suppose we're trapped here again aren't we? Without the transport I mean."

"Yes, it would appear we find ourselves with time, now that our only path back to the Fright Zone has been destroyed."

"Well hey! Don't worry, I know my way around this island. Together, we can figure out how to make whatever we need to get back to the castle."

He grumbled.

"It's not ideal," he said. "Things with the Horde are in disarray as it is, my generals are all incompetent, and the castle lay in ruins. The princess rebellion could come in and take everything away at any moment. My portal is gone, the attempts at contacting Prime a failure just like everything else I've worked for years to accomplish. Any First One's technology we were able to salvage is a fraction of what it once was, and aside crushing the rebellion, I find myself lacking a purpose on this backwater world. And yet despite everything else—"

"And yet?"

"Somehow I am content at being here, trapped away from it all on a secluded island where for the first time since my arrival, nothing is going to bother me." He rose to his feet and held his ribs, the water still dripping off of him as he let the strength return to him. "This island holds mystery and adventure, perhaps pointless to Horde Prime, but holding minor interest to me. Perhaps studying this land's countless discoveries here with you is not such a bad outcome after all?"

"What about getting back?"

"If you wish to return quickly, I will throw any resource I can into making that possible. If not, then I am content to wait, so long as we can work together again."

She smiled.

"I'd like that a lot. It's no miniature cupcake, but it's just as sweet a gesture I suppose?"

"If it takes the rest of my time here, I swear to somehow find you one of your tiny confectioneries." 

"Oh wow! That's the second nicest thing that anyone has ever said to me! And you already hold the top spot too!"

He took her hand.

"I will follow your decisions from here. Will you continue to guide me as we go through this journey together?"

"You want me to be the leader?" She repeated with a touch of shock. "Are you sure?"

"I have never been more certain. You know more of this island than I do, and have proven yourself time and time over. I would be honored to follow you as your lab assistant."

"Partner!" She corrected. "This island may be a pretty big lab, but you and I are still partners. That part hasn't changed! We can just work on the way home on the side, and focus on researching the strange connections on the island while we wait. How does that sound to you?"

Imp chattered contently at their feet, Entrapta looking up to him with her peaceful, carefree smile as Hordak returned the look, the expression he wore acting as the exact sort that betrayed his typical brooding attitude. With that smile, his voice came back a pleased hum as he made his reply to her.

"That sounds perfect."


	4. Something Different

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted on: August 18, 2019
> 
> (Thank you all for your continued support, and thank you E, for you comment that helped to inspire the Shadow Weaver portion!)
> 
> Picture to come later! (probably... what would you guys like to see?)

"I don't understand how the Horde keeps winning ground?"

Those at the round table studied the topography of their war map with concern, the little red flags representing successful Horde raids a mere handful away from outnumbering their own.

"Something is definitely different."

"It has to be Catra. After she and Hordak got away, I know they've been working together to find a way to get revenge against us." Adora lowered her brows and stared down at the table. "I recognize the patterns and attack formations as something she used during training, but there's something that's been off about them lately. I can't tell what it is, but it's like this wild, untamed aggression, only it's spreading throughout the entire Horde faster than we can contain."

"I'm seeing patterns in the raids as well," Huntara agreed. "But Blondie has a point. I cant really see the thought process behind it. It's like Hordak doesn't care about strategy or priorities all of the sudden. He typically only let out expeditions if there was land to clear or something to pick up. This is more destruction for destruction's sake, all erratic and unmanageable."

"He is the bad guy?" Bow pointed out. "I'm sure he just got upset we destroyed his base and his and Entrapta's portal project and isn't holding back anymore."

"I'm with Bow on this one," Glimmer nodded. "Why are we asking "why" the Horde has gotten worse, when we should be asking ourselves "how" to stop them before they take another village!"

Shadow Weaver chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Castaspella glared.

"While I can admire the young queen's priorities, you all fail to see the true strength in studying the "why" instead of the "how"."

Not everyone in the alliance had completely grown to trust Shadow Weaver, but after three months of intense battles, and her immense knowledge on the inner working of the Horde, they all shared a begrudging attention whenever she had something cryptic and informative to say.

"So you can tell what's been going on with the Horde raids these last three months?" Adora asked. "You can tell why they're so different than before?" 

"I believe the word you are looking for is "anarchy"," Shadow Weaver declared with a consideration laced into her tone. "That's all this is, just simple unruly anarchy."

"What do you mean?" Glimmer asked.

Shadow Weaver stood and manipulated the pieces of the table.

"Let's all take a moment to think about this tactically," she said, almost sounding as if she was enjoying herself. "It is no surprise that the Horde retaliated strongly to our major blow against Hordak's portal and his base of operations. However, the fact that the armies only continued their strong attacks in such rapid and unceasing waves only stands to prove that Adora is correct. These are not the actions of an army in control of itself, these are the results of living puppets blindly being led to slaughter."

"So the Horde is completing all of these successful attacks without a leader?" Huntara scoffed. "I don't believe it."

"They are not leaderless, no." Shadow Weaver squinted. "But Hordak is not currently in charge of his own army. I don't know what he's doing. I don't know where he is, but I can say with full certainty that it is not his hand which controls the armies that are currently causing us so much trouble of late."

"Catra..." Adora growled. "This has to be Catra. But how in the world could she have possibly gotten rid of Hordak?" 

"Maybe she just—" Mermista held a thumb up to her throat. "Erk! You know?" 

Perfuma gasped.

"Mermista!"

"What? If there was someone standing in my way of getting absolute power of an evil army, and I was evil, that's what I would do?"

"Mermista!" she repeated, this time more scolding than shocked.

"She makes a fair point," Shadow Weaver interrupted. "Hordak may be powerful and immortal beyond our standards, but he is not invincible. Part of the reason he kept to himself probably stemmed from a hidden weakness he didn't want to let known to his followers. In all his years, his respect and fear was passed down through tales or execution, none of which he had any personal hand in aside giving the order."

"So Hordak had a weakness?" Adora muttered. "And Catra... but... no, wait... even if Catra took over, why would the Horde follow her? She had enemies and killing Hordak would have only made those numbers grow."

"Plus, wouldn't everyone suddenly "freak out" if their all powerful warlord was just taken out right after losing their base?"

"Bow and Adora have a point," Glimmer nodded. "There are too many things wrong with this idea. Without Hordak, the Horde wouldn't be this effective overnight, especially not with someone like Catra leading them."

"Plus the word "Horde" is literally in the name!" Frosta exclaimed. "If Hordak did get merked, then the people who followed him would be in a total uproar!"

"Yeah but we haven't exactly seen Catra on the front lines lately, have we?" Perfuma informed.

"And it'd be easy enough for someone ambitious and crazy like that to usurp power."

"Okay Mermista, you are really starting to freak me out with all this evil planning talk!"

She sighed.

"Whatever..."

"Ladies, please!"

"Wait!" Adora erupted suddenly, her eyes rocking along the pieces in Shadow Weaver's grasp until she blinked and met eyes will the other members of the alliance. "What if they don't know!?"

"What if they don't know what?" 

"What if Hordak really is gone somehow and Catra is the only one who knows? She'd be able to take over everything and nobody would ever suspect a thing. A lot of Horde soldiers have never even see Hordak because he's always in his lab or his throne room."

"Hmmm..." Huntara hummed. "His name alone was enough to strike fear into the other soldiers. None of us ever questioned meeting him because those who did normally either got special promotions or never came back. We just counted ourselves lucky to be off of his radar. But— n-no— no that's too insane to even consider! Isn't it?"

"Not entirely," Shadow Weaver replied. "In any regard, it is a valid theory, and even using that as knowledge against the Horde could prove useful. If we can sow seeds of doubt into the Horde about Hordak, it will become just as weak and ineffective as before. Perhaps you will even manage to save those blind soldiers before Catra burns holes through their resources."

A wave of darkness spread over the pieces on the table until all of the Horde's lay in shambles.

"Aww... my carvings!" Bow cried.

Shadow Weaver ignored him.

"The Horde armies may be winning the battles, but when it comes to supplies and manpower, there is no way the Horde will be able to keep up with such harsh demand. There was a reason Hordak chose which areas to attack and which ones to leave alone. If he hadn't, then this war would have been over many many years ago. At the rate their attacking now, the Horde will completely burn out before they ever obtain their final goals. Those being Bright Moon if I had to take a guess?"

"That's good though, isn't it?" Frosta asked. "Why not let them run their own army into the ground?"

Sea Hawk clapped and chimed in.

"Like a glorious ship fire!" he sang. "They can burn themselves out in a valiant effort before leaving Etheria for good and the best part is that we didn't even have to fight them!"

Glimmer frowned and shook her head.

"No."

"Awww... why not?" They pouted.

"Fire like that is too dangerous. The Horde armies are hurting hundreds of people just going at the rate they are, and they're going to hurt a thousand more if we just stand by and let them burn."

"Glimmer's right, we have to find a way to stop them before they get that far!" Bow stated. "Maybe they don't make it to Bright Moon, maybe they're on our doorstep tomorrow. How long before one of the other kingdoms suffers like the villages in the path of the Horde right now?"

"We know that Bright Moon is their target," Adora said. "The army may be burning at both ends now, but eventually that fire is going to run out long enough for us to find a window of attack, and then we can finally tip the scales back in our favor."

Shadow Weaver glared down at the board and all the broken figurines.

"I don't like the idea of Hordak quietly disappearing. I highly doubt Catra is enough to have usurped him so quickly without indecent. This uncertainty brings far more threat to us than it should relief."

"We'll deal with it when it comes to that. For now, let's just work on another strategy to hold our lines and keep the people of Etheria safe. Shadow Weaver is right, if we can get the Horde spreading rumors about Hordak, we can at least rattle them a little bit and scatter their forces."

"Let's just hope that when our final battles come, we'll be able to handle any surprises the Horde has in store."

They were silent for a long while, a cough here, or a sniffle there. Finally, Glimmer tapped Bow a few times on the arm and made a clearly audible whisper to him to break the newly formed awkward tension at the table.

"Uh, Bow, this is probably a good segway for you to talk about those weird sky readings you've been charting lately."

"Right!" Adora perked up. "How goes the... sky-charting-thing?"

"What charts are these?" Castaspella wondered. 

He rubbed behind his neck but pulled up the charts for all to see.

"Well I haven't really brought it up yet because I'm still not sure what they mean, but ever since the portal opened, I've been picking up these weird energy readings that seem to be coming from outer space. So far none have managed to breach the planet, but they've been getting close. Readouts are uncomfortably similar to the ones the actual portal gave off, but we never really got the chance to study it while it was on, so I don't know if these are some side effect to the ripple in reality or something else entirely."

"No, everything should have gone back to normal when Queen Angella closed the rift. I don't think—"

Adora's voice trailed off as she noticed Glimmer frown, her impatience growing as she calmly rose to change the subject.

"Keep monitoring them Bow, I don't want to take any chances, especially if this is some sort of sign that my mom is out there somewhere and trying to get back."

"Unlikely."

"But not impossible!" Castaspella said, butting Shadow Weaver with her elbow as she did. 

Bow let out a sigh as he shut down his charts.

"This would be so much easier with Entrapta..."

"Well no one has seen her since the siege on Hordak's castle," Perfuma said dismally.

"There aren't even like... any new robots or anything to fight?" Mermista added. "You don't think Catra "got rid of" her too, do you?"

"Seriously?!"

Mermista only shrugged.

"Either way!" Glimmer interrupted, her voice raising by one or two aggravated octaves. "We can figure this out on our own, we don't need her help, not yet! Let's—" she took a breath. "Let's just move on to our next topic and get back to the weird energy readings later, alright?"

Everyone seemed to nod at that.

"Alright." Adora offered up a hand to the shoulder and a comforting smile before picking up the charred remains of the table's battle figures. "Uh, Shadow Weaver, do you mind?"

She let out a long sigh.

"Very well."

With an outstretched hand, all of the table props were repaired to normal and Bow let out a sigh of relief.

"Alright," Adora smirked. "Now, let's get to planning. Where are they going to strike next?" 

* * *

"Surprise!" Entrapta called, startling Hordak but just barely despite what he assumes were her best efforts

"Must you jump in from out of nowhere?"

"Sorry! Oh, but look at what I just got!"

She did not sound apologetic in the slightest, but with that typical excitement of hers, she held out her arms which were chock-full of the lumpy golden rocks from around the volcano's rim up the mountain.

"How did you manage to retrieve these?" Hordak asked, his voice as simultaneously impressed as it was berating.

"It was easy now that I have some prehensile momentum back in my hair!" She smiled and made small waving movements with the strands that fell well past her shoulders now.

"Your hair does appear to grow quite quickly," he conceded. "But you still shouldn't have ventured to the volcano alone. It's dangerous."

"Oh I wasn't alone, I brought Imp with me!"

"What?"

He turned, the Imp slightly mussed but shrugging off to the side. Hordak grabbed at the bridge of where once existed a nose and let out a tired sigh.

"That does not invoke anything positive to your defense."

"Oh, it doesn't?"

He grumbled but took a rock and decided, much like most things, to simply let it go. He had decided to follow her lead here, so if that meant allowing her to be reckless he supposed that was her choice to make. She was fine at any rate, and it wasn't worth getting into an argument about just considering the "what ifs". He had gotten much better at controlling his temper now that it was just the three of them, and it showed in his work as well as in hers.

"But thank you I suppose. With such natural power sources, the charges to our makeshift power generators should be able to maintain a steady stream using these geodes as conductors."

"And we can finally kick-start Emily back to life!" Entrapta gleamed.

The sentry bot hang from vine supports in the corner, most of her pieces back on now after disassembly and drying out. Some of the more useful parts were being borrowed for other purposes throughout their makeshift lab, all of which Entrapta promised to return before they actually reactivated the robot. 

In less than three months they had managed to thrive in this small wasteland, their personal camp accounting for a fairly secure and scientific research facility, minus the walls or anything of great value. It was primitive, sure, but of the inventions they had been able to create from nothing, they were comfortable at least, surviving here on this forgotten hellscape. Most valuable seemed to be the power supply and water purification systems attached directly to the ocean, and the steam power from the geysers which acted as enough to keep a few experiments going, while lightning rods above harnessed power for more intricate experiments at higher elevations. They were no closer to discovering the link between magic and monsters, of course, but through their weeks of study, patterns were still emerging as they upgraded their sanctuary with new inventions.

"No sign of Barb today!" Entrapta informed with her happy-go-lucky attitude. "I guess she's still scared after our last run in."

"As it should be," Hordak growled.

The worm had resurfaced soon after Entrapta's hair was long enough to hold her makeshift recording device. It probably planned on feasting a second course of magic from her head, but Hordak was able to injure it with his claws and a well-placed swinging log trap. One of the many patterns they had been facing of late was how often they had been under attack since the magic returned to Entrapta's hair. 

That only meant that she needed to be more careful and protected as they continued their time here. The scare had been enough to cause Hordak to reconsider working on the transports and leaving the island, but Entrapta, as per usual, seemed to be mostly unfazed.

"What are you working on?"

He looked down, her face inches from his tools, and it was enough to bring a smile out of hiding.

"Just basic repairs on my armor circuits."

"Oh! Glad I dropped in then! I'll help out with the right side since I know how hard it is for you to reach with your non-dominant hand." 

"That would be most appreciated," he said, still smirking. "Thank you. In return, I will take a look at your arm to make sure our latest calibrations are still working based on the new material we crafted from this island ore."

"Thanks!"

At one time he might have been defensive about receiving help and being called out for his inadequacies at repairing his own body, but not anymore. No, Hordak had found a peace he never knew himself capable of in these past few months of solitude.

"I have also been preparing food for you. It should be ready to eat shortly."

"Ooh, that's nice!" she smiled up at him. "Will you be joining us today? It's been a while since you ate."

"I don't require the same upkeep as you do."

"Yeah, but Imp eats, and isn't he like a little clone of you or something?"

Imp made a raspy screech as if to say "why are you talking about me when I'm right here?" before fluttering away.

"It is a... complicated story?" Hordak stretched awkwardly. "I'll tell you more about it sometime."

She leaned forward on their stone-like table and laughed before hoisting herself upward. She made it to where she and he were eye to eye, something she still managed to do without the help of her recovering hair. Her face, that soft expression, and eager curious eyes never ceased to make Hordak feel a gap in his thinking process and become quite ironically entrapped by her mere presence so near to him. He had to put down his tools for fear he might make an error on his arm circuits, now unable to do anything more than stare helplessly into her crimson colored eyes. 

"Well we have plenty of time!" Entrapta chuckled before shifting into a soft sigh. "There's still so much we don't really know about each other... you, me, Imp. Emily is an open book, but there's still so much about our species and our histories that we still have to learn together. That's exciting, right?"

Hordak felt himself swallow, resisting the urge to let that tingling sensation warm his cheekbones or effect the position of his ears.

"Yes I suppose so?"

Entrapta made a studious face and placed a hand up to his forehead.

"You look a bit distressed. Are you okay?"

That did it. His ears fell flat in a mixture of embarrassed retaliation and he took a step back before clearing the nerves from his vocals.

"Perfectly fine!" He lied. "Just mentally preparing myself for questions."

"Oh, for a second there, I thought you might be nervous? What is it like for your species to be nervous I wonder?"

Hordak opened his mouth, his glare ready to protest, but she didn't give him time to speak.

"I've studied you pretty closely these last few weeks and there's something different about the way you talk and act now. I've picked up on some of the mannerisms you use when your happy or upset. Like how your eye twitched because you don't like me going out alone ever since Barb showed back up, and how you seem to smile and like it when I volunteer to assist you with a project. I thought maybe invading your personal space and making your cute little ears move up and down meant nerves or something similar?"

Hordak reached up to touch his ears, mentally stopping himself, but not enough to keep the blush and embarrassment from showing on his face, or his eyes from visibly announcing his shock.

Entrapta reeled back, her face growing redder as well as she shook her hands out defensively.

"Oh! I didn't mean to make it weird! Sorry for studying you without your permission, I just think the little differences in you lately are interesting and I wanted to see how much I could pick up on!"

"It is..." he paused, something about her fluster filling him with recrimination. "...it is alright?"

"Really?" She peaked out at him. "You're not uncomfortable that I've been watching you? You're not creeped out?"

"No," he said simply. "It is the opposite I think?"

She smiled at him and then rolled her whole expression back into an explanation.

"Well I guess you've seen what human fluster looks like now. If only I could figure out what it is for you!"

She laughed a bit dryly, her thoughts existing elsewhere, but Hordak merely returned her smiled and stepped back towards the table.

"Your initial hypothesis of my facial features were correct assumptions. That was indeed how my "fluster" appears as well, although, it is not something I commonly wish to convey."

"Really? It's been pretty common lately?"

He tensed.

"Oh sorry!" she stated again, her volume rising as she attempted to take her words back. "I mean... uh... wow! Really? I had no idea! Wow!"

"Do not patronize me." His eyes narrowed, but that turned into a smile before he offered out his hand. "I believe I will join your meal time this evening. That will give us plenty of opportunity to share more of ourselves to the point secret research is not necessary."

She took his hand and grew a large grin.

"Imp doesn't like it when we talk about him you know."

"Then we will have to find time to speak of his creation in private when he is not nearby."

As they walked across camp to their fire pit, Entrapta hugged Hordak's arm and nodded against it.

"That would probably be for the best."

The touch was enough to send his ears flat and his face red again and he silently cursed himself for it.

"Aha!" She clapped. "I got it to happen again!"

"Aren't you enjoying this game of yours a little too much?" He grumbled. "How would you like it if I ran tests to see how badly I could cause reaction to your facial features?"

She seemed unperturbed by the question, a finger coming up to her lips as she pondered on the thought.

"That depends on how you would do it I guess? That in itself is a curious idea. What do you think would cause me to get flustered?"

Hordak wasn't entirely sure what to think about that. He had only seen the defensive fluster given off when she believed to have crossed some moral boundary. How would he cause her face to grow red if he were doing it purposely? He thought about that for a few more steps before an idea struck him and he decided to test it out before changing his mind.

Suddenly, he removed her grip from his arm and held her by the shoulders, a moment of long, soft silence passing between them as they only stood there and starred at each other. Reaching down quickly, Hordak hugged her for a long moment before returning to his starring, something that he was proud to see caused her to slowly grow more and more red with each passing moment after the embrace had ended.

"Aha!" He laughed. "I've figured it out!"

He laughed again, harder now. He was so proud of himself for succeeding, but the sounds he made only caused Entrapta to get more and more flustered with each passing second.

"I- I don't think I've ever heard you laugh before?"

He paused and looked down, the expression on her face enough to backfire and cause his own discomforting emotions to return. Perhaps the affectionate embrace was too much for both of them so suddenly?

Entrapta smiled, her eyes dancing nervously along the ground as her mind and mouth fought to make cognitive words appear.

"I mean— I've heard your darker chuckles before, but not a genuine laugh. It's—" she started to blush. "It's kind of really nice!" 

He was frozen where he stood, the intimidation simultaneously giving off a feeling of heat and melting, though his body remained perfectly intact. Whatever the feeling, it was much stronger than just a common fluster or mere nerves. A virus perhaps? Was he malfunctioning somewhere? The feeling was not a pain per se, but seemed powerful enough for both notice and mild alarm.

"Wh-what do you suppose this feeling is called?" He asked, a little fearfully if Entrapta was hearing his tone correctly.

The stone at his chest began to glow, probably a reaction of the heavy blood circulation. If Hordak had a heart that worked the same way that humans did, anatomically speaking, then Entrapta would imagine that this glowing was a result of rapid heartbeats.

She touched it and their eyes remained locked as the space between them shrank into nothing.

"I think... maybe..." She let out a breath, their gazes closer than they had ever been. "This could possibly be—"

Their moment of entrapment was broken by a shrill screech of Imp a couple of feet away, the meat from the fire already in hand as he complained from afar at their odd manner of intrusion.

"Nothing is happening!" Hordak lied, his glow now gone, but the humiliated ear and cheek combo still going strong. "Don't you have somewhere else to spy?"

Imp held out his arms, his voice in protest.

"It's okay! Don't get up! We were just coming to eat with you, right Hordak?" Entrapta exclaimed, recovering from the moment of otherworldly displacement as well. It was as though she had forgotten where they were and who was around, if only for just a small moment. She had to suppress the thought less it creep back in when she least expected it. 

Hordak grumbled, but swallowed back his reserve and took a seat.

"That is correct."

Imp rolled his golden eyes, crinkling his nose at them as Hordak let out a warning growl and Entrapta put pieces of the newly hunted meat onto their makeshift plates, making sure to give Imp another portion even though he held a bit of it in his hands already. Why was Imp so against using tableware? Another mystery, but one Entrapta had a difficult time focusing on as she took her own seat next to the two of them.

"There, now we can all eat together and not talk and just eat and it'll be great!"

"I thought you wished to converse during this meal?" Hordak asked.

"I do! I mean, I did! I mean. Wow, the weather here is pretty strange isn't it? That's interesting. We can talk about that! Or—well— you know—?"

He smiled, understanding and sharing in the hesitation. There was a part of him that did not want Imp to mock their company as well, so he nodded and changed the subject.

"Another storm may be approaching in the next few days. It will be best if we prepare out shelter for the impact. Perhaps tomorrow?"

Entrapta smiled and already began working out their storm prevention plans in her mind.

"Sounds good to me!"

Imp made an agreeing sound, happily chewing on the meat and surrendering his odd looks towards them in order to focus on his food.

With that, Entrapta and Hordak shared a small smile and broke away to eat at their dinners themselves. Something had changed between them, a click like before only stronger in almost frightening levels. Something was different, but somehow, despite all the uncertainty and unfamiliar side effects, that something was still the nicest feeling that either had felt in a long, long time. Perhaps when they were alone again, they could run more tests on whatever that feeling was, and figure out just how few the differences between their two species truly amounted to. Until then, what they had now was enough to quell their curiosity for the time being, yet both were eager to see what might become of them if this oddity were it ever to happen again. At least they had all the time in the world to figure it out together, and for that notion, they smiled and ate their meals in synchronized peace.


	5. Entrapment (Part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted on: 8/18/19  
(Behold a double update because you guys are awesome readers! Enjoy the tropey fluff!) :)

"Thank you for doing this, Hordak."

"It is my pleasure," he replied, his long clawed fingers gently running through her hair.

"Tangles are really hard to get out on my own without a strong enough brush. I had one back at the lab, but everything I try to use on the island only breaks. It should be easier now that it's all wet, but— uh, you're not hurting your hands, right?"

"I am not."

"Good. Good. Good." She patted her legs nervously, the ability to sit still and just let him comb her hair a forgotten ideal as she found new ways to fidget and wait.

"The shelter is holding quite well," he said, breaking her tension as the sound of heavy rainfall echoed from outside their cave-like structure.

"Yeah!" she said, visibly brightening. "I feel a little bad we weren't able to make one so nice for Emily, but at least she's keeping dry out there. Plus, we're high enough up that the tide doesn't flood us but low enough that we don't have to worry about electrocutions with all the metals we have here."

"As well as on ourselves," he pointed out.

"That too. That too!"

Again the chilling silence, and Entrapta returned to her nervous wriggling. Hordak looked to the corner where Imp was sleeping soundly, something about the storm soothing him into peaceful slumber. He enjoyed the noise as well, it was something different that this planet and all its water had whereas constant space exploration did not. Perhaps that much had rubbed off on the small imp, or else, all the vocal listening he did was oppositely soothed by the white noise of the storm.

"I enjoy this type of weather," he said suddenly. "What are your thoughts?"

She debated it for a moment.

"Yeah, I like rain. It's scientifically fascinating what with the cycle it takes from the seas to the sky and then repeating over and over just to keep the planet alive! Plus, lighting is immensely useful for crafting power and all sorts of inventions."

"Fair enough," he said. "I merely like the way it sounds."

"Oh?" She perked up. "Oh! Okay, that makes sense too! You know, a lot of people like the sound of rain, but others are totally terrified by it?"

"Why are they terrified?" He frowned.

"I guess because storms can be scary, the loud noises, the flashing light in the sky, the floods. If you aren't prepared for it, it can be pretty dangerous under certain circumstances."

"I see."

"We don't have to be worried!" She stated suddenly. "Our campsite is secure enough and our little shelter is more than sturdy. It would take a typhoon of great velocity to knock us down! Of course... I suppose we are on an island so meteorologically speaking a tropical storm could appear at any time, but in any case—"

"I think we will manage to endure." He interrupted. "We could move elsewhere to wait it out if the need arose."

"Like on the transports?"

He let his fingers fall and met her gaze.

"Perhaps. We are still working on them after all."

"I suppose," she frowned. "D-do you ever want to go back?"

"Not particularly," Hordak replied, a soft hesitance in his voice. "I had spent years trying to conquer this planet, but I find that it was surprisingly simple to go against my purpose to remain here for the time being."

"I don't think it was really your purpose, if you ask me. From what you told me about him, it sounds more like a lot of conditioning from Horde Prime. He made you to help him conquer worlds, but deep down didn't you ever want to do anything else?"

He averted his gaze and let out a regretful sigh.

"No, I never questioned my actions before recently. To my brothers and I, this was just the way life was meant to be, and we took satisfaction in the successful takeover and destruction of our enemies. However, after being trapped here, failing time and time again, and then discovering you—" he paused. "Well, I suppose I had never considered anything else before learning that there could be more to me than mere conquest and Prime's approval."

"Branch out of your comfort zone! That's what I always say! You learn a lot more that way, wouldn't you agree?"

He smirked.

"Irrefutably."

They shared another long, soft stare before a clap of thunder outside brought them back to their senses.

"Well, your grooming practice is complete. It is late and we will need to clean the wreckage of the storm in the morning before we can continue with our research. Perhaps salvages have blown aboard with the tides? That could prove most useful in the coming days. You will need your rest for the morning."

She smiled back at him.

"Not quite, first I need to return the favor!"

"Wha—"

But before he could finish, Entrapta was standing behind him and running her hands through his hair like he had just been doing to her. He sat up stiffly, afraid to move less she accidentally pull it out, though as she continued the smooth stroking motions along his scalp, it became less of a tugging fight and his tension eased, that turning slowly into a comfortable smile the longer she continued combing through it. She was finished rather quickly, but hugged him around the neck as soon as she was done, startling him due to the sudden contact.

"There, all done!"

He stroked a long strand of her hair that had fallen over his shoulder, his face turning ever so slightly to see her resting so close. His gem began to glow again despite his best efforts, but there was nothing to be done about that now. Her smile turned softer, her head tilting slightly as his view came closer to her own. He was only a breath's length away now and Entrapta closed her eyes, expecting something along the lines of contact to link them together and both parted their lips, but neither made a move.

"I—" Hordak paused, his ears falling back, eyes clenched shut as he growled under his breath, leaning away and turning his head to escape. "Y-you should rest."

Entrapta frowned.

"Is something wrong? I thought maybe—"

"No..." he spoke softly despite the anger at himself rising through him. "No... this feeling you are having is merely entrapment. It is not wise to pursue it, especially not with me."

"Isn't that my decision?" She put her hands on her hips. "I know this sensation is mutual. It's written all over your face. Why are you fighting it?"

"Why are you fighting for it?"

She did not appreciate the question within a question, but sat back, cross-legged and folded her arms.

"I've never felt like this before with any other person. I feel like it is my responsibility to research all that I can about what it means and what will become of it. I- I value your presence in my life. A lot! I thought that maybe you might feel the same?"

"I don't deserve to feel this way..." he said softly, the words painful and quiet to confess. "Least of all with somebody such as you."

"Why not?"

He glared at her, keeping his voice low so as not to wake Imp.

"Mine is a history coated in nothing but pain and failure and blood. What possible reason would you have to value my presence aside mere circumstance that we are trapped here together?"

"Maybe because I enjoy your company?" She retaliated. "I like our friendship and our partnership, and you!"

"But you shouldn't!"

"Says who? There's nothing all that great about me either, you know?" she argued. "I lived in a castle mostly alone for close to thirty years and either replaced or endangered what little human interaction I had with robots and out of control inventions. I wasn't even sorry about it! It was the thrill of discovery that kept my passion for working alive, but after I met you, I realized that there was somebody who finally understood me. Somebody who was like me even and who was ambitious enough to do anything in the name of invention! I finally met someone like me and that somebody wasn't even from the same planet as me! Do you know how alone it feels to have nobody on your world who is like you?"

He froze. He grew up with hundreds of soldiers who were just like him. Before coming to this world, he had been surrounded by beings who shared every thought and emotion he had to offer, all of whom were the same constructs of Horde Prime. It was easy to share goals and ideals when those around you were all clones of one mind to begin with.

"Not until I came here, no." He said, shocked as he looked back towards her. "Not until I met you, but in a different way than I remember. You are not like the other soldiers of Prime's armies. You are unique in your own way, not like them, and yet not like any I've encountered before on any other world."

"And you're not like anybody I've met either, no matter how much smaller my experience is with other people. Be honest with yourself. Would Horde Prime or any of your brothers do the things you did since coming to Etheria?"

He looked back to imp and frowned.

A failed clone such as Imp would have been terminated on sight, but Hordak had kept him and even cared for him since his creation. His brothers would never have created such a clone, they would have never built robotic armor to compensate a failing anatomy, they would have never delighted in the company of primitive soldiers, never fought for survival and respect as hard as he had. Least of all, none in Prime's command would have ever adapted to such backwater emotions over one individual human woman.

"No."

"Then you and I are pretty much loners and deviants no matter who you ask, huh?"

She smiled at him and despite what were once soul crushing terms, he couldn't help but smile back.

"Yes," he chuckled. "I suppose we are."

She took his hand and slid in closer to sit with him.

"That means we should stick together, right?" she said. "I like that your different. I'm glad that everything you've done brought you here, no matter how selfish that makes me. I'm just happy to have you in my life now."

He blushed, his voice coming out confused as he attempted to return the compliment.

"I am... umm... happy your suffering has brought you here as well?"

She snorted and let out a laugh.

He watched with mild embarrassment, feeling as though he had said something wrong, but confused as to why it had received such a positive response in her. With nothing more to lose and no further ties to hold him back, Hordak reached out to her still laughing face and cupped it closer, leaning forward to silence her noises with a gentle and completely experimental kiss.

The sounds of rain were the only precursor of time passing as both leaned back and stared at the other without really knowing what to say next.

"That's a lot different than I thought it'd be," Entrapta said through a light intake of air.

"Was it incorrect?" Hordak feared.

"No... I don't think so? It was just different, but... it was nice."

"Good." He said, nervously repeating himself two more times as he patted his legs. "Good. Good..."

"You're mimicking me now!" She tilted her head to the side in intrigue. "I guess you're picking up a lot of human things being trapped here with me. Maybe you're right? Maybe this is entrapment. Do you feel entrapped Hordak?"

He chuckled and shook his head.

"No, I feel like the flaw in my programming has turned my once divergence into something I can actually enjoy for the first time."

"I think that's called love?" she giggled.

He nodded.

"We don't have love where I'm from, but I am familiar with the concept of it here. I may actually think I might enjoy it. How strange it is to imagine such a feeling aimed towards me. I never thought I would know what it is to love?"

"I'm happy you feel that way! Now I'm extra glad that I made you that neat power source that said so right in the First One's writing."

"Wait, what?" He snapped back.

"I thought you knew?" She sweated, pointing with a laugh to the purple rhombus near his chest. "See? L-U-V-D."

"That is..." He stopped and got distracted by other thoughts. "That is not how that word is spelled?"

"I know that!" She protested. "I just thought that it wasn't right to spell loved without you, so I changed it."

He fell back on his hand, the endearment overpowering the flicker of humiliation he felt for walking around his armies wearing a pendant that said such a word.

With a yawn, she dug herself deeper to his side and stayed there.

"Wh-what is this? What are you doing now?"

"It's called snuggling. Do you like it?"

"I am... not... apposed to it?" He cleared his throat and made a rather grumpy expression despite his ears revealing more of his happy nervousness.

"Good," Entrapta smiled. "Then I'll just sit here like this until I wake up, okay?"

"O-okay?"

"Well goodnight!"

"Good night?"

He tried to get the shock out of his voice but couldn't. He still wasn't entirely sure why she chose him to place her love and affection, but he was too busy enjoying it to continue questioning her. _"LUVD"._ To change the entire spelling of a term to promote your own feelings was almost ridiculous. The mere thought of it was enough to get his gem glowing again, but this time there was a warmth behind it he couldn't fight. The touch of her weight against his arm, the sound of rainfall coming from the night air... all of it together like this was formulating to what was perhaps the most memorable and enjoyable moment in his entire life, and yet he was still too confused to understand how he'd even found it for himself.

_So long as I am here with you, I promise not to let anything ever hurt you again. It is because you too are loved and together we are stronger than we are apart. _

Tentatively, he placed his arm around her shoulder and watched Entrapta smile as she fell asleep, Hordak unable to stop his own content grin from forming as he watched protectively over their shelter and waited for her to wake again. 

* * *

"Horde Prime! We've found the loophole we've been searching for. Our portal is now ready to deploy at your command."

"Excellent. To think our missing little brother would also lead us right back to the long lost world of Etheria."

"The world has been completely void of neighboring stars or planets, sir, do you think it still possesses the key we need for Eternia?"

"Oh, I believe so," he cackled darkly. "Else why would our brother have spent this long trying to signal us from the void-less wasteland of space those Grayskull wielders cast it off to?"

"Yes Horde Prime, of course sir!"

"At long last our efforts will finally bear fruit. We will be able to take back the key and return to Eternia to claim what is rightfully ours."

Horde Prime folded his hands in front of his face, a smile through pointed teeth a new and refreshing victory in these long centuries of futile searching. The Grayskulls may have hidden Etheria away, but now that they've found it, at long last the war would come to an end. With this planet back under their repertoire, there would be nothing stopping them from completing their mission on Eternia, and silencing the last of those who stood in their way once and for all. 

"Activate the portal!" He called. "Etheria's peace in hiding is at a long overdue end."


	6. Entrapment (Part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted on: August 22, 2019

The latest raid had gone well into the evening, but things were finally starting to quiet down. It would be night soon, and as the dusk sky poured over Etheria, Catra retreated into her tent, retiring if only to spend her next few hours chauvinistically staring at her map and proudly marking another victory upon it. 

"Commander Catra!" saluted some random armor-wearing Horde soldier. She wasn't quite sure who it was beneath the visor, but his voice was vaguely familiar to her. Not only that, but he was using an all too familiar tone that meant he was probably about to bring her a brand new headache as soon as he opened his mouth again. 

"What is it?" she asked, masking her true annoyance with a more patient tone.

He lowered his arm.

"Ma'am, the breech of the Southern Wall was successful. The last sweep of the town showed no opposition in sight. The village is ours."

"Good," she replied, pleasantly surprised. _Maybe it wasn't bad news after all? Maybe this guy was just naturally meek, like Kyle?_

"The princesses have retreated once more," he continued. "B-but ma'am, there is one small problem I was hoping to discuss on behalf of the other soldiers."

She sighed.

_There it was. Well, here we go again..._

"What is it now?"

"We used up 60% of our power and weapons fighting back just now. If we don't head back to the Fright Zone to refuel soon, we fear that we're going to run out before raiding the next village."

Catra glared at him.

"Transports come to us with supplies, not the other way around. Why do you think the princesses keep losing?"

He made a face and took a step back as she filled in the space.

"Uh..."

"Because they have to run back to their precious kingdoms and their little crystals to recharge." She chuckled darkly. "Just like Shadow Weaver!"

"Ma'am?"

She could tell by the tone that he still wasn't getting it.

"If we turn back after every mission for fuel and supplies then we're no better than they are. We'll waste twice as many resources moving to and from the castle than if we just stood our ground. Not to mention, the second our backs are turned the rebellion will swoop in and take back our latest victory. No..." Her eyes narrowed. "We wait for the supply chain to come to us."

He didn't feel the need to mention that the supply transports wasted just as much fuel getting to them from so far away than it took for them all to move back a few checkpoints as they went. No, he merely swallowed his words and nodded to her.

"Right, ma'am. Sorry for interrupting your planning."

With that he walked away, opening the gap for Scorpia to swoop in and take his place both physically and within Catra's nerves.

"Heeey Catra!" She said, holding the words uneasily long.

"What?" She grumbled, recognizing the troublesome tone again.

Scorpia cleared her throat and stood tall.

"Well, you know how everyone has been asking when we get to go back to the Fright Zone, or switch shifts, or get the castle back up, or—"

"I get it!" She snapped.

Scorpia stopped and then moved onto her point.

"Well, more and more people are starting to question Hordak's methods."

"If people are unionizing then just scare them back into place!"

"See, that's the thing though. The longer and farther apart they are from Hordak, the less they seem afraid. I've tried threats, insubordination claims, words of encouragement... all the tricks of the human resources department, and people are just getting more tired, angry, and talkative. In fact, I've heard rumors that a lot of them don't even believe Hordak is still running this operation."

She hissed under her breath and shook her head.

Scorpia only pressed further.

"Look, if we don't back off a little, then I think that maybe the troops might figure out what's really going on."

"They wont find out because we're the only ones who know anything to be found out! Plus, you say that every week and it never happens. This is just typical gossip."

"Yeah," she tapped her claws together. "But this time, I really think it's time to pull back."

Catra laughed.

"We are so close to victory! Half of the map belongs to us and our methods are working! So what if people are getting tired? We're getting results and that's all that matters."

"Yeah but—"

"But nothing! You let them complain, and you tell them that if they have a problem with the way I'm running things then they can have a talk with me!"

"Funny you should say that, Catra because—"

She pushed out the tent door and paused at the sight of the small mob waiting outside for her. She shot a glare back to Scorpia who smiled nervously and pointed back to the crowd.

"Yeah... they're already here..."

She grumbled and turned her attention back to the soldiers and their apparent ring leader. 

"Lonnie," she said acidly, giving her a once-over up and down. "Why am I not surprised?"

"We're sick of working all over Etheria burning on both cylinders!" she snapped. "We've been winning ever battle we're put up against so why aren't we getting anything good out of this? We need a break, so either you tell Hordak that we're at our limits or I will."

Catra laughed.

"Oh? You're going to complain to Hordak? Really?"

Lonnie pursed her lips and held her ground.

"We have no base, we're running low on food and fuel and weapons, people are getting hurt and sick left and right, and if we keep ignoring it, then Hordak isn't going to have an army to boss around anymore. We've already caught three defectors trying to escape with the princesses just because they think it'll be better over there. ON THE LOSING SIDE!? We are losing morale, and if that means someone gets on Hordak's bad side just to fix it, then you bet your whiskers I'll complain!"

They stared into each-others eyes, neither flinching for the longest of seconds as heated tension filled the air around them.

Then Catra growled and shrugged her shoulders.

"Fine then. I'll give him a call. Go ahead, complain to your heart's content!"

"Catra..."

She silenced Scorpia with daggers for eyes and then walked back into the tent to key up the communications channel.

_The line rang... and rang... then it rang some more..._

"What's happening?" Lonnie asked. "Why isn't he picking up?"

Catra shrugged.

"Who can say? Maybe he just has better things to deal with?"

_The comms rang three more times before stopping and shutting down the terminal._

Lonnie merely stared at it, the shock in her voice breaking all the hardened resolve she'd mustered coming in with.

"Hordak never ignores a direct call from his second in command, never! He either takes it or has somebody else tell them to buzz off. Plus he's practically alone rebuilding the castle. He never even leaves the castle! Where else could he be but there?"

"Sorry, looks like you'll just have to save your complaints for later when he calls back."

Lonnie watched Catra, her thoughts racing, her mouth slack in stupefied confusion. _Nothing about this was right. _Something was off about this whole thing, but still... what could she do?

"This isn't over!"

She turned and marched out of the tent, Catra at her heels as the crowd of soldiers enveloped her, all quickly catching onto and reacting to her disappointment.

"Well what did he say?"

Lonnie arched her brows.

"He didn't answer. Nobody answered."

There were murmurs among the crowd, whispers and conversations overlapping until someone shouted out.

"That's because there's no one there!"

"I'm a technician who used to work in communications!" Another voice called. "Someone would have picked up, but we're all out here!"

"We're spread too thin!" A man called.

"We have all our people acting like soldiers!" A woman accused.

"Maybe Lord Hordak is missing too?"

"Where would he go!?"

"Catra knows something!"

"Where is Lord Hordak!?"

Scorpia and Catra backed away as the angry mob grew nearer.

"Why can't we go home?"

"We need a base to go back to!"

"Where else could Lord Hordak be?"

"No more lies, Catra!" Lonnie called. "We've been looking for Hordak for weeks, and you know something you're not telling us! Now where is he?"

"Easy everyone!" Scorpia called. "Wherever Hordak is, I'm sure he'll be back soon and will give us a call when he is, alright?"

"So he is gone!?" someone yelled.

"Where is he!?"

"What is he doing?"

Catra let their voices drift into static. They were really adamant about Hordak's disappearance tonight, and they had been for weeks now. Nobody knew about what really happened to him aside from Catra herself and Scorpia and even she had been pestering her in that worrying way she did when she got nervous. Not to mention, in the past, whenever she was worried, Scorpia had trouble keeping her mouth shut. The whole "Entrapta-ordeal" being the largest of those latest blunders. Was it possible that she was letting more and more news slip of Hordak not being where he should be? Could she have been the one spreading these rumors? Could she have said something or done something to sow the seeds of doubt into the Horde soldiers? Was she turning against her just like everyone else always did?

"Calm down!" Scorpia motioned again, standing between the crowd and Catra now. "You have nothing to worry about! With Catra's guidance, we'll be done with the war and back home before you know it!"

Something about the was she said that prickled her fur. Every time she opened her mouth it was to say something about her. Catra is this, Catra knows that. Was it all some sort of sick trick, hiding subliminal messages and clues of betrayal all masked beneath compliments and empty praise? Or else... was she just that dense? Could she not differentiate between this supposed friendship and her duty as Catra's second in command?

Scorpia was always talking, always talking about her, and always leaking information to the soldiers. Perhaps Catra just felt paranoid, but after remembering all the times Scorpia had been watching her, helping her, talking about her, she wondered if it was all an act. Maybe she was trying to bring her down? Maybe she was like Adora... maybe she was no friend at all, but a very dangerous enemy who knew too much and could bring all of it crashing down around her. Even if she was paranoid... even if she was wrong about Scorpia's motives, could she really risk letting such loose lips remain as her right hand?

No... it was too dangerous. They were so close to total victory against the rebellion. If Scorpia ruined this for her now, that would be it. There would be nothing left for Catra to do, no other mission for her to go on and win back her status. Catra wouldn't let that happen, not now. Not ever.

The sounds of overlapping argument returned as Catra's eyes grew wide and she stared blankly out into nowhere.

"You know what happened..."

Her voice was slow, quiet.

"Wh-what are you talking about? What's wrong, Catra?"

"Don't deny it! You know what happened to Hordak, Scorpia!"

All eyes turned to Scorpia who was unaware of the sea of stares because she was too busy paling only in Catra's line of sight.

"C-Catra, what are you talking about?"

"You've been giving me reports directly from Hordak!" She yelled, pointing to the data. All of it was forged by Scorpia, but Catra already knew that. "You know he's not in the castle and you're trying to cover it up, aren't you?"

The look of hurt on Scorpia's face made it seem as though Catra had stabbed her. 

"Tell the truth!" she continued. "This is your signature! Did you forge these documents?"

Scorpia's brows fell.

"I did."

"And do you know what happened to Hordak?"

"I do," she said, her face hard now, the look of betrayal replaced now with an expression of calm disappointment. 

"Where is he?"

Scorpia sighed and looked out to the crowd.

"He's— He's on Beast Island."

There were gasps audible even at the back of the mob.

"Whose idea was it to send him there? Who is responsible for putting him there?"

"Me," she said, her eyes completely devoid of anything now but stern resolve. "It was me. I'm responsible."

"I think that's all we need to hear."

"Place her under arrest!"

"But I—"

"Save it Scorpia!" Someone shouted.

Lonnie came up and placed a firm grip on her arm.

"Scorpia, is this true? Is this really true? You don't have to lie for Catra. You can tell me what really happened."

She looked at her, realized she was serious, and then only felt the guilt grow. It was entrapment plain and simple. Scorpia thought she was helping Catra by getting rid of Hordak, but really... she was just another pawn in Catra's game, another expendable soldier and the means of an out in order to get what she wants. 

The truth hurt, but not as much as the pain of knowing that Catra was too far gone for her to save, and what was worse... Catra wasn't even going to let her try anymore.

"Lonnie, I'm telling the truth. It was my idea to send Hordak to Beast Island. I pulled the switch and deactivated the homing beacons myself just to make sure he was trapped and couldn't come back." She looked over her shoulder at Catra, a glare on her face that almost shocked her once friend with its intensity. "I did it to help Catra take control. It's my fault he's gone and my fault she took over and made everybody work so hard."

Lonnie shut her eyes and then her head before coming to grips with the horrid news.

"And Catra?" Lonnie asked through gritted teeth.

"I did this all on my own accord. Catra's only goal is winning this war. Nothing else matters to her."

The accusation stung her a bit, but Catra held firm. That look in her eyes... it was almost the same as Adora's.

Lonnie waited for a long moment, trying to read her eyes and trying to see through Catra's expression. Scorpia had no reason to lie since Catra basically hung her out to dry. Scorpia wasn't denying anything either, so... despite how hard it was to believe, it must be true.

She shook her head and spat once into the dirt.

"Alright..." she sighed, her grip going firm. "Don't make this any harder for yourself, Scorpia."

The mob drew nearer, shackles now in hand, when suddenly a sound erupted through the sky. It was warbled electricity, parting the clouds with a stream of bright light. Soon the entirety of the sky was splitting open and through the gap a ship bigger and more fortified than any they had ever seen before was floating overhead. Dozens of smaller ships, vaguely Horde-like soared out along the sides of the great craft, the main fleet appearing so large and numerous that it blocked out their view of the sun.

"What... what is that?" Scorpia asked.

Everyone was awestruck, the earth vibrating from just being under such a massive ship. 

Gasps rang out, then confused chatter, everyone in the Horde feeling their blood run cold as the reveal of two red wings came into view. This ship belonged to them... to the Horde... or at least to Hordak. What that meant, nobody knew for sure, but no one felt good about it. Catra in particular could feel something ominous leaking from the vessel, and whatever it was, there was one thing for certain that everyone here knew.

Whoever this was... they were not on their side.

* * *

"What is that?" Adora gasped.

There was a ship the size of Etheria itself cutting through a portal in the sky, a portal large enough to allow an army through, an army which all bore the red winged symbol of the Horde.

There were gasps and screams filling Bright Moon, the other princesses and members of the rebellion in shock as everyone left the war room and coupled at the balcony windows.

"That would be the Horde." Shadow Weaver said with a glare. "The real Horde, not the one Hordak made for himself."

"Why are they here now? What do they want?" Glimmer gasped.

Bow grunted, pulling out his energy reader and studying the wavelengths the tear in the sky was causing.

"It was them!" He said suddenly. "The weird readouts, the leaks... they weren't aftershocks, they were replies!"

"We thought Hordak's portal failed, but it was actually a success. Hordak actually managed to call his army here!"

Glimmer shook her head.

"And if they're here, then that means...."

Shadow Weaver offered the end to the statement since no one else wanted to be the ones to come out and say it.

"Etheria is as good as theirs."

* * *

"Bwah!" Entrapta called. "What is it? Is it morning?"

"No," Hordak frowned. "You have only been asleep for a short while.

"Oh..." She rubbed her eyes. "Alright. Well was it the storm? I heard a weird noise."

"As did I." He stood and held down a hand to help her to her feet. "The rain has let up. Perhaps it would be wise to go outside and investigate."

"You think?"

He growled to himself and nodded.

"I sense something familiar about that sound. I have a bad feeling about it."

"Bad? How bad are we talking here? Like getting shipped to Beast island bad or destroying all realities with an interdenominational wormhole bad?"

The rain split on them at an odd angle Hordak and Entrapta both stepping towards the separate walls of water as Imp observed the dry cavern the sky left them in perfect flat air.

"Fascinating!"

Clenching the rainwater in his fists, Hordak let out a gasp and looked up to the clouds.

"It can't be..."

As quickly as the rain had split, so too did the clouds, the storm dissipating into night sky as the ship came into view, the bright glowing streaks of light cutting through the dying clouds until the entire planet was enveloped with light.

"It's a portal!" Entrapta gasped.

"It's Prime..." Hordak said, equally if not more breathless than her.

"Your message... it must have reached Horde Prime after all? Th-that's a good thing isn't it? It's what you've always wanted?" 

He broke his stare on the grand Horde ship and looked down to her with a frown. It was true. He had spend centuries trying to accomplish exactly this but now that it was here he felt conflicted. Prime's presence on Etheria seemed wrong and ill-placed. What's more, he had been enjoying his months on this island with Entrapta. He had fooled himself into believing he could spend eternity on this island with her. If Prime was here, that dream, should he chose to call it that, was nothing more than fantasy.

"I'm not entirely certain," he said, studiously, his thoughts dark. "One thing is certain however... we cannot stay here any longer."

"Do you mean—?"

He let her trail off before nodding, his eyes tracing her before looking towards Imp's curious expression.

"It is time to fully repair the transports, we must be there when my brother lands or else things on Etheria could go very poorly. We must make contact with him, and it will take far more technology than our supply here to access such sophisticated terminals."

"I see..." she replied. "Well... I guess we should get to work."

"Yes," he nodded. "But..."

Entrapta brightened.

"First let us reactivate your droid. Its presence will help with the transport's repair. I'll begin replacing the re-purposed materials to the sentry while you redirect the power."

She fell back a bit, not disappointed, but in a sort of lackluster acceptance. With a sigh and a half smirk, she took his hand and shrugged.

"Alright. I'll have everything ready by the time you get done. The cables should be dry enough to function by dawn, and we can have those transports running on hydro-power and perhaps even more archaic methods by lunch."

They shared a smile. They both knew they could have left the island in a matter of hours given all the technology they had created in their time here. They could have returned weeks ago... they were just having too much fun to actually admit it.

"It is a plan then, but make haste. We must hurry. Prime's patience is limited and I know he will be eagerly expecting my call."

"Great!" she laughed. "That gives you plenty of time to think about what you want to say! It's been so long now, I'm sure you must have some idea, right?"

He paused for a moment.

"Not anymore..."

There was a bemused whimsy in his tone. At one time he knew perfectly the speech he wished to tell to Prime. Now that he did not want to necessarily destroy Etheria, the planet which brought Entrapta to him, he knew that he must show more caution when addressing his goals. Such a backwater world would be beneath Prime to fully destroy after all. Perhaps he could grant the planet to Entrapta? Perhaps he could have them all spared? Was he in any position to bargain after all his failures? Perhaps not, but it was still worth the attempt to try.

"Well, I'm right here if you want to bounce any ideas off of me. I don't know what Prime is like, but I'll try my best to pretend for you!"

He smiled.

"I appreciate that. Now, let's get to work."

Imp crawled on his shoulder and Hordak pointed him towards the overlapping cables to move them to their new location.

"All of us."

He stared out at the ship, recognizing the flight patterns in an instant as though no time had passed since he'd last seen such a well constructed formation.

"I only hope that we make it in time."


	7. Reset

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted: December 26, 2019
> 
> Hello all! Very sorry for vanishing without finishing this fic. I thought up a way to finish it last night, but will need to dip into a bit of Season 4 and cut a few corners in order to get there. As always thank you all for reading and for your patience. I hope you like the ending and it brings me and all of you a little bit of fic closure!
> 
> ALSO: a big thank you to figgySpuddin on Discord for the idea on Hordak's clone name!

It had been one hour since the abduction aboard Horde Prime's ship. Just as it seemed everyone had finally made it back to one place, a massive beam of light tore into the ground and swooped them straight into an actual alien fleet ship.

Catra and Glimmer were brought aboard along with Hordak, who was helpless to do anything as Horde Prime broke him down in every sense of the word and finally reset his entire being.

Entrapta could only watch as the interaction took place on the bridge. To list a simultaneous pro and con of her situation, the fascinating beam had transported her to another part of the ship, therefore out of imminent danger but also too far away to help Hordak. Why this was, she could only theorize, but she assumed it had something to do with where she was in the blast as well as how her mechanical parts had interfered with the position settings.

Hacking into the system in order to locate surveillance feed was simple enough. The mainframes here were far more advanced than anything in the Fright Zone, but at their core they seemed to follow the same basic structure as everything else in Hordak's castle. 

She saw what had happened to Hordak, and she knew that only she would be able to make things right. Though for that she would need help, and judging by how she parted ways with Catra, and how she wasn't completely sure of Glimmer's motives, Entrapta wasn't wholly certain that either would come to her aid. However, they were the closest things she had on this ship in terms of allies at this point, and without them, she would never be able to reach Hordak before being discovered by the other hostiles on this kingdom-sized spacecraft.

"I'll have to try." She told herself, and then, using what had grown back in her hair, she pulled herself up and snuck into the vents, which were also thankfully similar to the ones in the Fright Zone, if not much newer, cleaner, and easier to move around through. "Piece of cake!"

* * *

"What do we do?" Glimmer asked, pacing back and forth in their "accommodating" if not still prison-like chambers gifted to them by Horde Prime.

With a sigh, Catra continued watching the sparkly princess pace glitter trails into the floor as she perched, knees to chest as high up as she could place herself.

"I don't know."

"You don't know!?" She exclaimed, her voice squeaking with frustration. "You're the one who was all "the planet is a big weapon" you need us to figure how to use it"!?"

"I think the words you're looking for are,_ "Oh thank you for saving my life Catra!", "Quick thinking Catra, you probably saved the whole stinking planet!", "I am so glad you were there to stall Horde Prime!"?"_

Glimmer glared at her for a few seconds, then she realized that what she was saying was probably true. Her look turned calmer and more into that of confused sympathy as she stopped and stared up at her unlikely new ally.

"And why did you?" she asked. "If I recall, you didn't care if you destroyed Etheria before with the portal, so why save it _and me_ now?"

She clicked her tongue and laughed, though it was a weak, dry sounding, and ultimately tired sound that revealed absolutely no joy within it.

"To save myself of course. Without you here, why would Horde Prime keep me? And why would he keep either of us if he decides to wipe away the whole planet?"

"That's it?"

"Pretty much? Look sparkles, I could care less what happens to you, or Etheria, or anyone else. My army hates me, the Fright Zone is broken, I have no friends or family down there waiting for me, wondering where I went or if I'll ever come back. The last thing I can do is just survive at this point. It's all I have left. I worry about what to do later if we get there, but I'm not in the mood to just give up to Hordak-Prime out there."

Glimmer's look turned more pitiable as she turned and continued her pacing in silence, the soft stepping of her feet in the quite corridor interrupted suddenly by a loud clattering from above.

** _*KER-THUNK!*_ **

Both girls got into a fighting stance, their equally unsure stares agreeing to at least be ready for anything before a vent panel slammed into the floor and from out of the dark rectangle exit popped a very familiar and very unexpected figure.

"Hello!" She waved, her smile just as wide and unexpected as the other two reeled back in shock.

"Entrapta!" Glimmer and Catra called in unison.

"What happened to you?" Glimmer asked quickly, followed only seconds behind by Catra's more aggravated and scared sounding voice as she bounded forward.

"I thought you were dead? What are you doing here?"

"We're literally in space!" Glimmer agreed. "How did you get on board?"

Entrapta nodded as they spoke, taking in all of their comments until they were done. Now that their shock had soothed a bit, they would be more likely to respond to her statements, and more likely to make somewhat rational decisions.

"Well, after Hordak and I made it back to Etheria, he stormed off to confront Catra for sending me to Beast Island, then the other princesses showed up and the space ships closed in, and then I suspect we were all incorporeally transported into this ship through some sort of powerful tractor beam that managed to transport all of us into the main ship without tearing us into tiny little shreds!"

"Entrapta!" Catra called. "Focus!"

"We know _how we _got onto the ship. We wanted to know how you got here? Why weren't you in the command room with the rest of us?"

"Oh!" She nodded harder. "I'm not entirely sure yet, but my theories are piling on the longer I explore this ship. It's design is almost like a look into the future of what technology in the Fright Zone could become. It's remarkable if it weren't also very likely the end to all life on Etheria as we know it. The energy stored on this ship is more powerful than anything I've ever seen. I surmise that if Hordak's brother wanted to destroy a world, he would be more than capable of doing so with just this one ship alone."

Glimmer and Catra only stared in silence.

"But that's not important right now!" Entrapta waved, interrupting her own thoughts with new ones. "I was able to access surveillance feeds and found out where they placed you two and Hordak. I saw what they did to him, and it is imperative that we find him so I can try to undo what Horde Prime did to his memory."

"Why?!" Glimmer asked. "Isn't him being gone good?"

"Yeah, for once I think I agree with Sparkles. Hordak tried to kill us both, why would we want to add him back onto the playing field now?"

"Well..." she started. "He's the only one who has ever kept up with my theories and hypothesis, his mind alone is invaluable to stopping Horde Prime and saving Etheria. Especially now that Catra's revealed the planet's weapon. If he doesn't destroy us, he will certainly make all life change for the worse in order to figure out exactly how he can hone and manipulate the power of Etheria to use against other conquering worlds. That's all these ships care about, it's why Hordak and all the others were cloned in the first place. It is physically encoded into their DNA to conquer worlds and please their overlord."

"And this is helping Hordak's case because...?"

"Because Hordak had a defect! A beautiful, wonderful defect that made him start to think about things for himself. He changes the very nature of his existence based on curiosity and science. Sure... his motives were rooted in his default purposes, and I do not deny that people have gotten hurt because of it, but of everyone here, he is our only hope and figuring out how to defeat Horde Prime. We just have to return his free will to him and make him remember that he can be better than what he was created for, something he was starting to figure out on his own after being trapped all those years on Etheria."

"Okay..." Catra paused, her fingers coming up to clench the bridge of her nose. "Let's assume you're right for just one minute. Even if you got to Hordak, and we didn't all get caught and vaporized on sight, how would you possibly go about "resetting" him?"

"Simple!" She smiled. "I noticed the programmable circuits that blended into his organic tissue when I helped him upgrade his old armor."

"That was you!?" Glimmer pointed, her brows furrowed.

Entrapta made a quick "yes, now don't interrupt" motion as she continued her explanation.

"During my time in the Fright Zone, and during my downtime working on the portal, I studied as much as I could into the process of Hordak's cloning, and alongside samples of his failed prototypes and useful information from Imp and Hordak's own biometrics, I was able to figure out a fail-safe that acted as a point of immovable memory updated to the most recent logging of his own thoughts, feelings, and emotions." She placed a finger to her chin and tapped it curiously. "Assuming he's updated this-- let's call it a "save point" for the sake of jargon-- then I would suspect his most recent "self image" is still stored in the location of his new suit's power processing unit. If I can get to him, then I can activate it and return him to the way he was before." She pointed. "The crystal rhombus located here at the center point of his chest."

Catra's ears perked up.

Meanwhile Glimmer's brows furrowed.

"Do you mean it's like his heart?"

"In a sense, I suppose if you correlate all personality and life giving energy to the heart of one's body then that would be an appropriate assumption. I thought the placement was almost poetic considering I left him a message reminding him to "love" his imperfections."

"You what?"

"I wrote "loved" on the crystal. I'd been studying First One's ciphers for a while when I was trying to come up with new power sources for my bots and beyond that. I thought it was a cute touch considering how much fun I'd been having with Hordak as my lab partner." She blushed a bit and fiddled with her hair. "And how much he's come to mean to me in non-scientific ways as well. Though... I suppose all life and mannerisms are science in a way, because science itself is in everything we do and--"

"Easy! Easy!" Catra said, snapping her fingers. "We get it!"

"We so get it!" Glimmer nodded, her face looking only lightly grossed out.

"So you understand why and how we are going to save Hordak, yes? Will you help me then?"

"How?" Glimmer asked. "We're locked in here, I can't just go around telelporting in a spaceship without the possibility of ending up OUTSIDE the ship by accident, and Catra's run out of all her annoyingly useful ideas!"

"Not quite, Princess."

They looked her way, watching as that signature grin spread across her face, the mischievous look of ploys and hope returning to her mismatched eyes as Catra reached into her pocket and pulled out Hordak's crystal."

"You had it all this time!?" Entrapta called.

"Nah... I just ripped it out of his armor to get a one up in the battle. He was trying to kill me for you know... betraying him, lying to him, tricking him, basically all the killable qualities a person could brand themselves with."

"Ugh!" Glimmer groaned. "We get it!"

"So, uh... yeah... Here." Catra tossed the crystal to Entrapta who caught it in her good arm. Catra's expression studying the new features to the annoyingly brilliant science princess before the guilt became to much and she had to look to the corner of the room. "And uh...." Her voice lowered three octaves as she mumbled. "Sorry."

"What was that?" Glimmer called louder, genuinely confused.

Catra groaned loudly and rolled her eyes.

"I'm sorry for getting rid of you by sending you to Beast Island where you would most certainly die! I'm sorry! Okay?"

Entrapta didn't smile, but she did nod a little.

"What happened was really painful and confusing for me. I'm not sure I'm ready to unpack all of those feeling right now, but I do appreciate your apology."

"And..." Glimmer added with a rub to her upper arm. "We didn't exactly come looking for you after things started getting bad... so I'm sorry too. I mean, you're the one that went to work for the Horde, but--"

Catra nudged her.

"Sure... Right! Of course! I'm sorry too."

"I'm not the best at this sort of thing, but..." Entrapta held out her arms. "Are we supposed to hug now, I suppose?"

Catra and Glimmer looked at each other and immediately broke away.

"Nope!"

"Absolutely not!"

"No way!"

Entrapta smiled, and retracted her arms.

"Alright. More time for mending bonds later. For now let's repay all our faults and oversights, mine and Hordak's included. We can make everything right again, starting at saving him and the rest of Etheria."

"Okay."

"Sounds good, What do you need us to do?"

"Here's the plan, first you two will run a distraction while I get this crystal into the reconditioning chamber."

"Sure..." Catra rolled her eyes. "What could possibly go wrong?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Entrapta clapped. "I made you a list based on my observations. Listen closely because these warnings could mean life or death in a statistically probable margin of occurrence and error."

"Swell..."

Both got drained, exhausted expressions, Glimmer face-palming for a moment as the two mentally prepared themselves for whatever Entrapta was about to say next.

* * *

The distraction went more or less as planned. Catra and Glimmer's diversions and teleporting caused just enough unrest to alert the other Horde clones away from the reconditioning chamber long enough for Entrapta to sneak down from the vents and lock down the automatic doors. They would have a small window of privacy this way, and with the crystal in hand, it was all the time she needed to make the repairs necessary to reset Hordak's soul.

"Step one complete," she whispered. "Now onto step two."

Entrapta turned and saw Hordak, green eyes and unresponsive to her entrance as he pressed random selections on a screen in front of him.

_Some sort of test perhaps?_

"H-Hordak?"

The clone was unresponsive.

His hair had been combed back, but his eye coloring was still dark, and they hadn't changed his armor yet. Considering most of Hordak's armor now acted as an exoskeleton, she wondered if they simply couldn't remove it without entirely destroying him? Plus, after the initial shock of having his entire identity erased, Entrapta figured this was just the first of many steps to resetting Hordak to his original state, and she very much doubted the other methods would be quite as civil as a mere aptitude test either. 

She tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hordak..."

He blinked, robotically lowering his screen and turning to her attention.

"My designation is 991985. You are not authorized to be here. State your purpose."

Even his voice was lifeless and stiff, though the underlying threat still managed to chill through.

"I--" Entrapta thought quickly, _(luckily an action she was quite good at)_ before coming back with a reply. "I am a scientist from the latest planet to join the Horde."

"You are an enslaved scientist? What purpose does Horde Prime have for your input in this reconditioning chamber?"

"I was sent to--" she paused, the words causing her to physically shudder. "Assist with the correction of your cloning defect."

"I am aware of the defect." He said plainly. "I have noticed the difficulty it takes for my body to perform otherwise simple tasks. What corrections does an inferior being such as you hope to bring that could compete with the technology of the Horde?"

She placed her hands on her hips and shot him a challenging look.

"I'm smarter than I might look! Why else would Horde Prime send me in here?"

He paused, the emotionless look on his face processing her words before registering a response.

"Very well. Your logic is sound. Proceed with your corrections quickly and begone."

She shot him what she believed to be a compliant bow and stepped closer.

"This chip should correct any flaws you may suspect. If you could just--"

He was able to calculate the height difference on his own and leaned forward. With a frown, Entrapta slipped the shape back into place and watched as it glowed with signs of successful connection.

The clone took in a deep inhale of breath, perhaps a slight discomfort within him though he was far less vocal about it than regular Hordak was.

Entrapta took a step back and held out her arms trepidatiously.

"So, how do you feel?"

"Powerful." He smiled and for a moment she did too, but just as quickly, the face turned back into a cold expression and he returned to his test. "That will be all. Return now to your previous work."

_It... it didn't work? But she had been so sure! Her programming should have been-- well she guessed she had never tested it out. There was so much about organic to technological adjustments she hadn't known before making her arm. Perhaps she had failed to save him after all._

Dejected, she stepped away.

There was nothing she could do for him now, not with the timing they had at their disposal. She would have to move on to step three with or without him.

With a tear in her eye she looked back at him over her shoulder one last time.

"G-- Goodbye Hordak..."

She reached up to grab the vents as as she did, Hordak let out a lurching groan, clutching his chest as he fell to his knees and let the test monitor clatter to the ground. She paused mid motion and dropped back to the ground, watching as the sterile facade of the person before her became physically disheveled, the last things to turn being his eyes as they drained slowly back into a glowing red.

"E--" he coughed. "Entrapta?"

"Hordak?" She rushed over and helped him to his feet. "Is it really you?"

"What's going on?" He grumbled. "This place? How did we-- How did you-- ?"

Overcome with relief, she ignored him and grabbed his hands in hers.

"Oh it worked! It just needed a moment to boot up! Thank goodness! I thought I'd lost you for good!"

"I thought I'd lost you..." He repeated, a soft solace in his stare as he focused deeper into her face and brushed a stray strand of hair out of the way. "But I am still-- confused. We appear to be on my brother's ship. Did I meet with him? What happened?"

"I'll catch you up on the way, but to make things brief, Horde Prime reset your mind and is trying to use the weapon of Etheria. Catra and Glimmer are here and are basically the only reason the planet didn't get annihilated, and as scientifically fascinating as all of this is, I need your help to defeat your brother and save the galaxy."

"Defeat my--" He made a scrunched up facial gesture. "Horde Prime cannot be defeated. He is too powerful."

"That's what he wants you to think," she said, pulling out her schematics. "But you are so much stronger than what he made you out to be. Together we should be able to at least escape here and regroup with the others." Entrapta frowned and reached up to cup his face in her hands. "I know this is asking a lot of you, and I know you've been through a lot, but I--"

Hordak watched the video replay of Horde Prime turning against him. After all he had done for all those years to make his brother proud and how had he responded but in every way Hordak had ever feared. He was supposed to understand Prime's methods, supposed to blindly obey without question, but Entrapta was right. He was different. His defect gave him a will of his own and he had used it to do so much more than Prime had ever asked of him. It had given him purpose where as his story was meant to end years ago along the front lines of a battlefield somewhere. As Entrapta spoke, more and more, he could not help but think her words made more sense to him now than anything else he had ever previously believed in his entire existence.

"Okay."

"Really?"

"I am with you to the end, whatever you wish to do."

He leaned forward and kissed her without warning, both blushing slightly as he cleared his throat and returned to his usual awkward self that she had come to expect of her lab partner.

"Ahem. Shall we depart?"

He offered out his hand to her.

She took it with a smile and nodded.

"Let's rewrite all the wrongs we've made, Hordak. Together..."

He nodded.

"That could take quite some time."

"Well, there's no rush. We'll just take our time and work things out until they're perfect. Sound good?"

He smirked at her again, touching his heart crystal as he remembered the fondness of Entrapta and the future he had once considered sharing with her. That future was becoming a reality.

"It sounds perfect."

"Great! Now the hardest part is getting the Princess Alliance to trust you. Don't worry, Glimmer can vouch for us once we find her and Catra. They should be distracting the others and making the way to our rendezvous location right now. let's go!"

"Wait... what?" He asked numbly, his arm being dragged behind an eager and running Entrapta now.

"It's all a part of the plan. We'll make it work! But we all have to work together so that means a lot of trust and a lot of apologizing."

With a heavy sigh, Hordak rolled his neck and nodded.

"I trust you. If you say this is our best course of action, then I will do everything in my power to make it a reality. With my knowledge of the Horde and the galaxy, the--" He almost choked the words, unaccustomed to saying them without a hiss of vehemence in his voice. "The Princesses will have to let me speak."

"That's the spirit!" Entrapta cheered. "Now let's do this! Together!"

"Together."

And with that, they ran off to save the universe and stop the war that had been plaguing Etheria for so long. So many years and so much history now somehow so small and pointless now that Hordak realized it was all for nothing. If a future with Entrapta and a place in the galaxy that wanted him to be who he was without a complete reset on his design also meant a galaxy where he would betray his brothers and Prime's wishes, then Hordak knew he must be more malfunctioned than ever, because that future sounded like something he actually wanted to fight for.

And fight for it they would.

Of this, he would make sure they would succeed because he no longer fought for just Prime's approval. Now, he was fighting for Entrapta, and her future. Their shared future on a planet he once considered worthless, now made precious just by this one princess who had given him a reason to exist in the galaxy. Even if it was something new and scary, this was what needed to be done in order to protect these most precious moments with her, and for that, Hordak was ready to do what was necessary.

"In case we die trying to succeed in this, I would just like you to know that I am happy you were my lab partner, Entrapta. This has been the best moments of my life spent on Etheria doing science with you."

She smiled and squeezed his hand.

"I feel the same." She punched his arm and let out a loud, snorting laugh. "Now let's not focus on the negatives and get out there and fight some advanced alien warships! Woo!"

He smiled at that and the two continued down the corridor and onto the next step of Entrapta's crazy plan to get back to Etheria. With the war turning now against Horde Prime, it was obvious that the craziness was just beginning, and for her, Hordak was completely fine with this, no matter the odds that were against them.

**THE END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of cheated a little by blending the fic with the show, but I really wanted a good place to finish this before the show came back. I hope you all liked it, and thanks for reading!  
Sorry if it was a little sloppy, but hopefully there were some cute parts you guys like as well!  
You all have been a lovely audience!  
Goodnight! XD  
# Pray for Entrapdak reunion in the finale!


End file.
